Like a Thief in the Night
by Wingleader Sora Jade
Summary: YYH-YGO AU. Youko Kurama and Yami Bakura were once partners in crime. But when a wounded Kurama is forced to take a human body, Bakura does too, waiting for the day the demon thieves will be reunited once again... (Chaps 9 up) Full moon...
1. Part One: Thieves of Makai

Like a Thief in the Night 

by WSJ 

WSJ: *rolls eyes* I'm surprised this hasn't been done before! Or maybe it has, but I spent about four hours searching the Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Anime Crossovers sections and didn't find anything like this. Well, as the old saying goes, if you can't find it, do it yourself! ^^ *sucks on a candy cane happily* 

Bakura: *rolls his eyes* Oh dear God... 

Summery: Once upon a time Youko Kurama and Yami Bakura were partners in crime. Nothing in Makai was safe from the sticky-fingered pair of thieves. They couldn't be caught, and were the most wanted men in Makai. That all changed when Kurama, wounded and close to death, chose to take on a mortal human body. Out of loyalty to his friend, Bakura too takes a human host, waiting for the day when the invincible duo of demon thieves will be reunited once more... 

Notes: AU for both YYH and YGO, although more for YGO than YYH. The yamis' pasts in Egypt are completely altered, and Kuranoe and Yomi don't exist in this fic (so far. I'm completely fudging Kurama's past, and once I find out more of what really happened to him I may find a way to stick those two in.) I'm going by the Japanese versions of both serieses when it comes to names and such (although on YYH not a lot was changed...). Also, some of the YYH characters may be a bit ooc, because I'm just beginning to get into that anime and I'm still learning how the various characters act. 

Also note that my favorite characters are Hiei, Kurama, and Koenma, along with Bakura, Ryou, Malik, and Ishtar, and that I'm not particularly fond of Kaiba, Kuwabara, or Yusuke. 

Romance: Yusuke/Keiko, Yuugi/Anzu, Jou/Mai, possible Otogi/Shizuka (if I ever get around to including them, I may not even bother), and possible Kurama/Botan/Bakura and Koenma/Botan/Ryou in the future (hey, who can say? =D There's plenty of possibilities and I _do_ so enjoy romance tangles. *snerk*) 

Bashing: Kuwabara and Honda. The idiots must die. Yay. Also slight Yusuke bashing, but only a tiny bit. ^^ 

**Names:**   
_Ryou_ is the host/hikari   
_Bakura_ or sometimes _Yami Bakura_ is the demon/yami   
_Malik_ is the hikari   
_Ishtar_ is the yami 

Disclaimer: SJ does not own Yuugioh or Yu Yu Hakusho, because if she did she would own far more Kurama and Bakura merchandise then she does. *pouts* Stupid otou-san, not letting me order things off Ebay... 

**Vocab:**   
_Okami_ - Japanese - literally 'wolf'. In this case refers to a 'wolf demon', or werewolf.   
_Kitsune_ - Japanese - literally 'fox'. In this case refers to a 'fox demon'. Kitsune are very prominate in Japanese legends (something you run-of-the-mill YYH fans may not know). They're usually red, although white or silver kitsune like Kurama aren't unknown (though that may be why he has red hair as a human?). They tend to live thousands of years, and are known for their trickery. At birth they have just one tail, and as they grow older and gain more power it will split, the maximum number of tails being nine. Therefore, the more tails a kitsune has, the more powerful and old they are. Kurama, just for reference, has five tails. 

()()()()() 

Like a Thief in the Night 

Part One: Thieves of Makai 

Prologue -- The Hunter 

_Quote of the fic:_

"I can't believe it, there's another man as beautiful as I!"   
~(Emperor Hotohori, Fushigi Yuugi) 

"I won't _stand_ for this!" Koenma almost yelled, standing up in his seat and planting his hands on the desk in front of him. "Botan, we have to do something!" 

Botan sighed and nodded her agreement. "Yes Koenma-san, I know, but what? Those two are the best escape artists in Makai. All attempts to capture them have failed miserably! Every time we get close they disappear into some rat hole we can't follow them into." 

Koenma plopped back into his seat, a pouting and slightly worried expression on his face, his pacifier bobbing up and down as he spoke. "Oh, this is not good. I have spies in the underground that say they're planning to go after the Sennen Items! Do you know how powerful they would become if they got their hands on even _one_ of them?!" 

Botan looked worried, nervously fidgiting with her ponytail. "Oh no... Thank kami that the Items are scattered all over Reikai and Makai. They can't get to all of them at once." 

"No," Koenma agreed. "But it makes them harder for us to guard." 

"Aren't they locked away behind physical traps as well as curses and seals?" Botan asked, brightening up slightly. "That should at least make it unpleasent for them to try and get at those Items. And even if they do manage to get into the chambers that hold the Items, they can only claim them if the Item lets them. Surely the Sennen Items wouldn't let themselves be taken by those so obviously evil. Would they?" 

Koenma shook his head slowly, but still looked worried. "Bakura is a master of getting past traps, and Kurama is the best curse-breaker to live in Makai in the past thousand years. Together they're nearly unstoppable. I don't know much about the Items, Botan. You'd have to ask otousan. All I know was that they were created several thousand years ago by a mysterious and shadowy group of six Egyptian priests and their pharaoh. But if what otousan said is true, then at least one of the Items is corrupt already, I have no idea which." 

Botan bit her lip. "Oh dear..." 

The doors to Koenma's office burst open suddenly, admitting the running and panting form of Blue Ogre, who was waving a scrap of paper over his head. "Koenma-sama! They've struck! The Sennen Ankh has been taken, all guards dead! They're moving, sir!" 

Koenma jumped up, as Botan gasped, his eyes wide in shock. The Ankh's hiding place was in one of the darkest parts of Makai. It was amazing that the duo of master thieves had dared go there first. Then again, it was just like them, striking in the place least expected or most dangerous, just to flaunt who they were. 

"WHAT!?!" Koenma yelled, snatching the message from Ogre and reading it francitly. He gulped, and Botan grabbed the note from unresisting hands to read it for herself. "This isn't good... They're definately moving south, toward where the Sennen Ring is hidden." 

"But sir, surely they wouldn't be so stupid!" Botan cried out, letting the paper flutter down to rest on the desk. "If we know, then they know we know, and they know we know they know, so surely they know we'll send more guards to the Ring's temple, because we know they know we know they know we know!" 

Koenma uncrossed his eyes, spitting his pacifier so that it bounced against Botan's forehead. "Your logic frightens and confuses me!" Quickly he retrieved the pacifier from where Ogre had caught it before it hit the ground, and stuck it back in his mouth. "But even so, you're right. Still... they've been thieving Makai and Reikai since before I was born. Ogre, what are some of the recent crimes they've comitted?" 

Ogre hesitated slightly, and when Botan and Koenma both turned to look at him expectantly he sighed and looked up at the ceiling, as if reading his answer from there. "They have sucessfully broken into your father's treasury twice and made off with all manner of priceless artifacts. They have stolen no less than six hundred and twenty-seven artifacts, mystic talismens, and enchanted weapons over the past three hundred years alone, not to mention the seven hundred before that! They hire their services as thieves to any human, demon, or spirit who pays them enough. Sometimes, if they get bored, they'll hire out for free, just for the heck of it. Although more noted for their breaking and entering record, both are also notable fighters, especially when able to work as a team." 

"Wait," Botan interrupted. "A team for the past thousand years? Just how long have these two known each other?" 

Absently Koenma waved a hand, otherwise seeming deep in thought. Botan turned around to face the screen mounted on the wall as a picture wavered into view. Botan blinked, staring at the image before her. It had apparently been taken in the midst of battle, and Botan would have bet that the poor cameraman hadn't lived to tell the tale. In the foreground a young man with spikey silver-white hair and brown eyes, dressed in a gray tanktop and pants and barefoot, scowled as he held up a luckless shrine guard by the collar, his other hand cocked behind his head and holding a wicked curved short sword, poised to impale the pleading guard. He looked about twenty-five, and between his snarling lips Botan caught the hint of long fangs. Other then that and the white hair, he could have passed for any normal human in a normal town. 

The other man, however, was a different matter. He was crouched behind the other, in an almost feral stance, ready to spring on anyone close. This man looked younger, maybe nineteen or twenty, and wore the same clothes as the other man, but in a lighter shade of white. He too had long white hair, but here the similarities ended. His eyes were gold, his fangs longer and more defined. His ears were not human's ears, but those of a fox. A long silver fox's brush graced the air behind him, almost seeming to twitch back and forth, though this was a still picture. Botan gasped, for the moment stunned into forgetting they were dangerous demons at the sight of their absolutely _perfect_, gorgeous bodies... "Oh gods..." 

Ogre cleared his throat, snapping Botan back to the present. "Indeed. The one in the foreground with the sword is Bakura, the older of the two. As far as we can tell, he's anywhere from a thousand to five thousand years old, and probably closer to the five thousand side. He is, in reality, an _okami_, what Westerners would call a werewolf. In human form he looks perfectly normal, but he can change at will into a fierce white wolf. The one behind him is Kurama, a _kitsune_. We know for a fact that he is only about one thousand years old. Due to these two having incredible resemblence to each other, as you can see from the picture, we suspect them to be related, though we don't know how. Why or how they joined together we don't know, but apparently Bakura took Kurama under his wing when he was just a child. The earliest known thievery these two made together was when Kurama was barely ten (which, of course, is very young for a fox demon that lives thousands of years. That's like taking a three year old out to rob a bank)." 

Koenma nodded, crossing his arms over his chest thoughtfully as he paced the length of the desk and then back again. "They've gotten cocky. They believe they can't be beat, because they haven't been in a millenium. But... Ogre, there's no record of anyone hiring them lately? No one asking around for them in the underworld?" 

Ogre shook his head. "No sir." 

"Oh dear..." Koenma's pacing sped up a little. "That means we have to assume that going after the Sennen Items isn't a job. They're doing it to keep the Items for themselves!" 

"And with that much power in the hands of two demons..." Botan trailed off, and all three of them stared at each other with a mixture of horror, disbelief, and worry etched on their features. 

Koenma closed his eyes, standing still in the middle of the desk and obviously thinking. "The Ankh is already in their hands. While they probably haven't had enough time to figure out its magic, it's sure to give them an energy boost. We'll have to send someone to stop them, someone very powerful indeed... but who?" Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he answered his own question. "Ogre, send for the Hunter!" 

Ogre and Botan gasped. "But _sir_-" 

"Do as I say if you want Makai to still be standing by tomorrow morning!" Koenma shrieked, jumping up and down and waving his finger at Ogre. "Now do it!" 

"No need, m'lord," said a quiet, calm, almost regal voice from the corner. "I am here." 

"Ah!" Koenma said, his tantrum turning off like a thrown switch, leaving Botan and Ogre to wonder if it was some secret skill he had mastered. "Good, you're here. But really, you don't have to 'm'lord' _me_! You're just as much a king as otousan is!" 

The Hunter's eyes flashed in the darkness of the shadowy corner where he stood. "Not here." he said quietly, resting a hand on the golden bauble around his neck almost absently. "Not here." Then he faded from view and was gone in a swirl of shadow before any of the trio could say more. Gone to hunt demons. 

()()()()() 

WSJ: Mwahahaha... And so ends the prologue! Anyone know who the Hunter is? :p Come on, shouldn't be THAT hard... 

Oh yes, about Bakura being a werewolf. Obviously not canon. :p Don't worry, plenty of explination coming in future chapters. *snicker* 

I've heard that Kurama is over a thousand, but then I've also heard that he's only 300. For the sake of this fic and his relation to Bakura, he's a thousand. Okay? ^^ 

Also, my theory of the Sennen Ankh is that Shaadi is _not_ the one meant to hold it, he's just being allowed to hold it for a time because he comes from one of the tomb keeper clans. The Scales are his, but not the Ankh. Therefore, in my stories I tend to give the Ankh various new owners. :p 

God bless minna-san! 


	2. Koto

WSJ: X_x; MORE muses... Like I NEED any more... 

Chibi-Grizabella & Chibi-Growltiger: *giggle* 

Bakura: O_o; What the heck? 

WSJ: ^^ I saw Cats last night. Whoo!!! *huggles C-Growltiger* I loff you! :p Review all! 

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO or YYH in any way, shape, or form. 

Note: This chapter backs up a little bit, to awhile before the prologue. :p Just be aware of that. 

A note on Koto: Go watch the Dark Tournement episodes of YYH. See the fox-demon announcer with the red body suit, the curly brown hair, and the tannish tail? Yah, that's Koto. ^^ 

Couplings: :p After a few more days of rational thought, my pairings have slightly rearranged themselves. ^^ **Yuugi/Anzu, Jou/Mai, Yusuke/Keiko,** and **Otogi/Shizuka** have stayed the same. ^o^ The others have fallen victim to the whims of my muses, new and old. **Kurama/Koto, Malik/Yukina, ** and **Koenma/Botan/Bakura** are my picks for now. :p Subject to random change without notice. 

As for those of you who guessed the identity of the Hunter... :p You'll have to wait and see, now won't you? =D 

()()()()() 

Like a Thief in the Night 

Part One: Thieves of Makai 

Chapter One -- Koto 

_Quote of the chapter:_

"You made it rain blood."  
~(Tomoe - Samurai X) 

Among the criminals and thieves and murderers of Makai, Kurama and Bakura were worshipped as something like gods. It was said that if they were seen passing through your town, good luck would befall you. If they actually stole something from your town, you would gain wealth beyond your imagination. If they stole something from _you_, well, you were probably too dead to enjoy whatever might be coming. All this was mere superstition of course, but it didn't stop the underworld from believing it. 

Apparently, the small city of Shensai was about to become very lucky. 

Youko Kurama, his white hair pulled back carelessly into a messy braid, snickered and poked his partner in the ribs as the two of them sauntered easily down the main street. Shutters were slamming closed all around them, children were being pulled to their mothers' sides and being hushed. Faces peeped at them from around corners, vanishing as soon as it seemed either one of the demons was about to glance their way. 

Yami Bakura grinned, his fangs glittering slightly. Though older, he was the shorter of the two, and the quicker. In an instant he'd darted around a corner into a shadowy alley. Kurama slowed down and crossed his arms, standing in the middle of the street and pretending not to hear the whispers that came from behind him. There were only a few curious children who'd gotten away from their mothers on the road behind him, and children had to have something to believe in, didn't they? Years from now they'd probably sit around and tell their grandchildren that they'd actually stood within a hundred yards of the great Youko Kurama, them and their friends daring each other to dart up and pull his tail. 

Kurama snickered quietly. Like they wouldn't be shredded by the time they got near him. 

There was a muffled scream from the direction that Yami Bakura had gone, and the whispers of the children stopped abruptly. Kurama grinned, his tail lashing once in anticipation as Bakura reemmerged from the alleyway, dragging a demon woman of considerable beauty behind him. The woman fought and twisted to get away, but Bakura just snickered and held tighter, until she gasped at the pain. 

"Oh, now Bakura, don't hurt the poor thing," Kurama said, swaggering foward to face his partner so that the woman was between them, making sure his voice was loud enough for everyone hidden nearby to hear. This was a dance they'd done a thousand times before, and both of them knew their steps well. Kurama made a show of looking over the woman that Bakura was holding by the upper arms. "Tsk tsk, you have no taste. You couldn't find a lady kitsune?" 

"What need would _I_ have of one of your dirty fox lovers?" Bakura asked, also pitching his voice so everyone could hear. "Besides, we're in a hurry. Shall we just-" 

The werewolf demon was cut off abruptly as something lept snarling out of the shadows, crashing against him and throwing him to the ground. The woman ran, but neither thief cared. Bakura landed with a grunt and rolled away from his attacker, already starting to shift forms. In moments he was in his wolf-form, circling warrily the beast that had attacked him. Kurama, once poised to jump in and help, relaxed and made his way over to lean against the nearest wall, his tail flicking casually back and forth. He would provide help if Bakura looked like he needed it. 

The creature that had attacked Bakura was a kitsune, Kurama noted with intrest. A _female_ kitsune. Well well, he might have to persuade Bakura to delay in this city for awhile... She had brownish-red fur and only three tails, a sign that Kurama wouldn't be needed. Bakura was an okami, and therefore had only one tail no matter how powerful he was, but he was more than enough to deal with one three-tailed kitsune. Kurama himself, when in his silver fox-form, had five. This young fox had no idea what she was standing up against. 

Bakura, making the same conclusion that Kurama had, snorted and shifted back to his human form, standing up and crossing his arms over his chest. He narrowed his eyes at her, not happy to have been made to change when no real threat required it of him. The vixen started to leap at him, teeth bared, but suddenly found herself jerked back as Kurama lifted her by the scruff of her neck in one strong hand. His six-foot frame easily held her above the ground, and she struggled for a moment before giving up and reverting back into quasi-human likeness. She was young, maybe only two hundred, at the most. Her body looked about thirteen, if not younger. Her hair was curley and brown, with a brown fox's tail and ears, like Kurama had. She fought against Kurama's grip, but he held strong. 

"Here's your lady kitsune, Kurama," Bakura noted helpfully. 

"Hm, yes," Kurama sighed. "A bit scrawny, isn't she?" 

Bakura shrugged. "You said kitsune. You didn't say what type." Their conversation was interrupted as said kitsune shreiked indignantly. 

"Leave us alone!" she screeched, twisting maddly in the stronger kitsune's grip. "We're a peaceful village! Just let us be!" 

Kurama chuckled darkly. "My, what a feisty one. What's your name, vixen?" 

"Koto." she snapped, "Now let me _go_!" 

"We will," Bakura purred, lowering his eyelids at her. "We will, as soon as you tell us what we want to know." 

Kurama cussed vividly as Koto scratched at him, and he angrily held her out at arms' length, deliberately twisting his grip slightly so she gagged. He sneered at her. "Do you have _any_ idea who we are?" 

"Yes," she said, glaring at the white-haired thief even as she panted for breath. "You are the most vile, hated men in Makai, at least to those of us who aren't thieves or murderers like _you_." 

Kurama growled at her, his eyes narrowing. "You impertinant little bitch," She winced at what was possibly the worst insult you could give a female fox. Kurama threw her to the ground, his tail lashing back and forth as he made ready to fall on her with claws extended and fangs tearing. She shrieked a little as he loomed over her, but Bakura grabbed him by the arm, hauling the younger demon away from her while at the same time keeping Koto in place with a dark glare. 

"We still need her," Bakura growled half under his breath, his fingers digging into the skin on Kurama's arm, but not enough to make the fox yelp. "Let her be." 

Kurama snarled at him and shook Bakura off, but made no further move toward Koto as he became very intrested on rearranging the fur of his tail, ignoring Bakura and Koto altogether. Bakura scowled at his back, then turned back to the kitsune girl who was still half-sitting on the ground. "Look girl, we need news of the Sennen Ankh. We were told that its temple lay somewhere near here. Tell us quickly, before I deside to let my partner have his way with you after all." 

Koto swallowed, her eyes darting toward Kurama, before she steeled her gaze again. She seemed to think quickly, and something inside her changed. She swore to herself then, as she lay cowering before two of the most powerful demons in Makai, that she would never, _ever_ get herself into this possition again. But for now... 

"To the north," she said, rather pleased that her voice was steady. "There's a river that runs east about six leagues north of here. Cross the river, and there's a forest. Deep in the forest is supposedly where the Ankh Shrine lays. Whether it really is there or not..." she shrugged. 

Bakura nodded slightly, stowing these directions for future use. She had no reason to lie to them, but if she was sending them into a trap then it was probably nothing beyond what he and Kurama could handle. Either way, they were safe. "Come, Youko," he said, calling his partner by first name for once. "North." 

Kurama turned to sneer at him. "And let the lady live?" he asked sarcasticly. 

Bakura nodded, and grinned darkly. "Of course. After all, if she's sending us into a trap, we have to have something to come back and beat up on." 

Kurama laughed mockingly and turned. All in one motion he crouched down, taking Koto's jaw in his strong hand. Forcing her head up, he grinned at her, displaying his fangs widely for her to see. "May we meet again, little puppy." Then he kissed her deeply and swiftly, and still laughing the two demons left the town, leaving Koto and all the silent, hidden watchers behind. 

Kurama didn't know the truth in his own words, but they wouldn't come to be for a long, long time. 

()()()()() 

WSJ: ^^ Having fun yet? 

Kurama & Bakura: *glare* 

WSJ: ^^; Ah well... Hmm... Kurama's being a little... Bakura-ish, isn't he? :p 

Chibi-Growltiger: *smiles cutely* Weviews pwease! 

God bless minna-san! 


	3. In the Wilderness

WSJ: Well now, on to chapter 2! *cackles* 

Kurama & Bakura: ~_~; Help us? Anyone? 

WSJ: =3 *pokes Kurama* Disclaimer! 

Kurama: WSJ does not own YGO or YYH in any way, shape, or form. She wishes, but thank kami she doesn't. 

()()()()() 

Like a Thief in the Night 

Part One: Thieves of Makai 

Chapter 2 -- In the Wilderness 

_

Quote of the chapter:

_

"The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."   
~(Charles du Bois) 

Kurama and Bakura moved silently out of the town, and then by a shared look of mutual concent, morphed into their swifter animal forms. Soon silver kitsune and white wolf ran together through the woods, dodging easily in and around trees and, when necessary, leaping over each other. If anyone noticed their passing, it was only as a pair of pale streaks against the darkness of the forest. 

Now, here an intresting note must be made about the weapons of these two particular demons. Both had the power to manipulate plants, and carried seeds of several varieties in their long hair. But Bakura used a sword as well. In human form, it was buckled securely around his waist. When he morphed into wolf form, the scabbard twisted around until it rested across his back, the belt going over one shoulder as if it were a bandolier. Their clothes, peculiarly enough, morphed with them, melting into the fur on their bodies and then back into clothes whenever they changed. 

They made camp that night by the river Koto had mentioned, and managed to get a rare treat. 

"Fish!" Kurama said joyfully, dancing a short jig by the river. "It's been so _long_ since we've had fish! Always rabbits, rabbits, rabbits, and maybe a quail or two." he made a face. "Stupid rabbits." 

"Hey, I happen to like rabbit," Bakura said from where he was trying to fan a small fire into existance. "But you're right, after days on end it tends to wear thin. So fetch a fishie!" Kurama grinned and nodded, changing into his fox form and wading into the river. 

They weren't usually this silly, and certainly not when anyone was around to see, but they could already feel the power of the Sennen Ankh, radiating out of the forest ahead of them. Koto had been correct about the location of the Ankh Shrine. The expectation of the hunt, of the heist, was already going to the thieves' heads, making them drunk with sheer anticipation. Of course, by the time they were ready to move in on their target, all trace of levity would be gone, and the demons would be cool and calculating once again. 

After dining on fish and a brief, restless sleep, they were on the move again before sunrise. It took them the better part of the day to get through the forest, but as the sun was getting ready to set, Bakura and Kurama crouched in the bushes, watching the Ankh Shrine with bright, glittering eyes. 

The shrine was made of white limestone and a grayish-green marble, almost three stories high. It was built in the style of an Egyptian temple, a design Bakura knew well. There was no front door, simply an entry hall, but they counted four guards with swords and bows patroling the outside. There were bound to be more inside. From their uniforms, they were in the employ of King Enma, or at least his son Koenma. 

Kurama and Bakura had done plenty of checking into the Sennen Items, and knew exactly what to expect for each. The seven Sennen Items were under maximum security, each in their own way, especially the ones in Makai. 

The Ankh was enshrined under guard and ward in the deepest, darkest forest in Makai. The Scales, Rod, and Tauk were hidden away, hidden so far away and so well that only King Enma and two chosen family lines knew of their whereabouts. Not even the diligent searching of Kurama and Bakura had turned up their locations. The Eye was said to be in the hands of a ningen businessman named Drake Crawford, for all the good such rumors would do. The Ring was sealed in a cave that was said to be guarded by a demonic monster of untold power. The Puzzle, supposedly the strongest of all, was held by a shadowy demon loyal to King Enma and his son. It was whispered in dark corners that this demon man had been one of the priests who helped create the Sennen Items in the first place. Some even dared whisper that he had been the pharaoh. 

"The guards are mere C class," Kurama whispered in obvious disdain. His sharp, demon eyes could easily see the power level of the guards, though he need not have said it aloud. Bakura could see just as well as him. "Does Koenma think we're joking? He has to know we're going after the Items by now, with all the hints we've dropped in his spies' hearing!" 

"Yes," Bakura agreed flattly. "He probably just doesn't think we'd ever dare. A pity about the guards, though," he sighed. "I was looking forward to a nice challenge, for once." 

Kurama shrugged one shoulder, his fuzzy ears flicking back and forth to catch every sound. "Better than nothing." 

"Indeed," Bakura agreed. "Come on, then." 

The two crept forward through the brush, silent as mice. They waited until one of the guards closest to them had his back turned, and then Kurama lept, his claws fully extended and slashing. Bakura had already drawn his sword, and quickly followed his partner. With twin yells, claws and sword struck at the same time, and the guard slowly toppled, quite dead. The other guards spun, one having enough wits to draw his sword. He and Bakura clashed briefly, but the guardsman, demon or not, stood no chance. 

Several more guards poured out of the interrior of the temple, and the fight was on. It was short, all things considered. Bakura's sword shown red under the setting sun by the time it had ended, and Kurama was licking the blood from his fingers with dexterity a cat would have envied. As he yanked his blade out of the last of the guards, Bakura glanced almost casually at the lone man who was running as fast as he could toward the treeline. Brushing a hand through his long hair, Bakura dislodged one of his seeds from where it lay rooted just under the skin at the back of his neck. Hardly bothering to aim, he flicked it at the fleeing guard. The guardsman stumbled as the tiny seed imbedded itself in the center of his back, but he kept running. "Oh look, someone's going to tattle to Koenma." 

Kurama chuckled and cracked his knuckles. "And then he'll die a mysterious death. Yay." 

Glancing around at the guards that lay at his feet, Bakura bent down to wipe off his sword on one of their uniforms before sheathing it again. He nodded to his kitsune partner, and together they picked their way across the bloody field toward the temple. They didn't bother to be careful. If any demons were left alive or hiding in the shadows of the shrine, Kurama and Bakura would sense them long before they dared attack the thieves. 

The entry hall lay mostly in shadow due to the dying dusk, but in a far corner there was the faint glimmer of a golden door. Grabbing a torch that hung on a pillar near the door, Bakura started forward, with Kurama at his heels. The fox was forced to come up short, however, when Bakura didn't open the door, but instead stood still and seemed to be looking over the strange writing that had been etched into the gold of the door. "_....Sealed away, until the chosen bearer doth come for it...._" he muttered, mostly to himself. "This is a curse. No one except the one Chosen or the pharaoh himself can enter this room without being struck down." 

"You can actually read that junk?" Kurama asked in surprise, leaning around Bakura to squint at the spidery writing. 

Bakura shot him a semi-glare. "Indeed. This is ancient Egyptian hieratic, a form of shorthand hieroglyphics used by priests. Not as well known and not nearly as easily decyphered as hieroglyphics, but I can read them just as well. Anyway, all that's on this door is stuff I've known for a few thousand years anyway." 

Kurama frowned at him and crossed his arms. "You sure know a lot about ancient Egyptian curses, and you never _have_ told me exactly how old you are..." his gaze was obviously suspicious. 

Bakura chuckled darkly and stepped back from the door. "I've always been a thief and always will be, just know that, boy. I did live in Egypt for awhile when I was younger, right around the time these bloody Items were created, in fact. That's where I learned of them. It's not my place to take the Ankh, it's yours. I've known that for the past thousand years, since I first laid eyes on you in your cradle. Besides," he added quietly, half to himself. "It's the Ring that knows my hand..." 

Kurama shot him a surprised look. "What-?" 

"Go fetch it, fox," Bakura said roughly, shoving the torch toward Kurama. "My past is none of your business." 

Kurama scowled, but did as he was bid and took the light. Stepping forward, he cautiously pushed open the door, hoping for the stupid wolf's sake that he wouldn't get incinerated or something. Beyond lay a circular room lit with torches, the ceiling held by tall stone columns much wider than Kurama could reach around. In the center of the room stood a stone alter about waist high, rimmed in gold. While the room and columns were the same marble as the rest of the shrine, the alter was made of coal black obsidian. 

Stepping warily forward, his eyes darting around for any sign of attack, Kurama approached the alter. In the center of the top was a recessed area, in which lay the object that they sought. The Sennen Ankh gleamed slightly in the fire light, its leather cord coiled around its neck. Kurama glanced over his shoulder to see Bakura silhoetted in the doorway, a blur of white and gray against the black night. Bakura urged him forward, and Kurama turned back to his prize. Swallowing compulsively, he reached out one finger to lightly brush the gold of the Ankh, and then he flinched away. Nothing seemed to happen, so Kurama took hold of the Item and pulled it from its alter. The hole where it had rested burst forth with a beam of silver light, but it dissipated in less than a second. 

Quickly Kurama retreated back to where Bakura stood. The older thief nodded, calmly, his face a set mask, but Kurama was pleased to see the approval in the older thief's eyes. Handing the torch back to the wolf, Kurama quickly untied the leather cord the Ankh hung from, and draped it around his neck. There was a second of intence pain, as if the cord were biting into him, and he gasped in surprise. But as soon as it had come it vanished, and Bakura was tugging on his arm. "Come, let's go. We need to be far from here when Koenma hears what our little doomed messenger has to say." 

Nothing else was said until they were safe in the forest, making ready to transform back into their animal guises. "Bakura," Kurama said hesitantly. "How did you know that the Ankh wouldn't kill me for being unworthy? How did you know I was the one?" 

Bakura looked at him for a long time, his brown eyes deepening to almost black in the nighttime forest. "I've known since I first saw you," he repeated crypticly. "You're my kin. Why do you think I saved you when your parents were slaughtered?" 

Kurama growled as Bakura's words brought to life an old wound. He'd been so young when they died... "He was your father too!" the fox snapped, his fists clenching, the Ankh swinging from its cord around his neck. 

A moment later Kurama found himself flat on the ground, Bakura's full weight on top of him. The older thief snarled, his eyes narrowing. "Silvanus was _not_ my father!" 

"Deny it if you like." Kurama answered, his own golden eyes narrowing to slits. "He was your sire. Pretend all you want, but you are part earth spirit, as am I. You control and manipulate the plants and the flowers, like I. You can pretend, and you can ignore, but it won't change the fact." 

Bakura growled, but got off Kurama, turning his back on the younger demon. "It may not change it, but it sure makes me feel a hell of a lot better when I think that I couldn't save him..." 

"You saved me," Kurama said softly. 

"Damnit, of course I did!" Bakura snapped. "Silvanus left me when I was barely five. Mother didn't even tell me he was my father until I was nearly a hundred. I never saw him except on wanted posters! No kin of mine would grow up fatherless if I could help it." 

Kurama smirked at his back as he got to his feet, brushing leaves out of his tail. "You're not a good father, just so you know." 

Bakura rolled his eyes and turned to face him. "Oh, gee, thanks." 

"But you're one hell of a brother!" 

Bakura smirked. "That's better. Now come on, we're headed south. It's time to reclaim something that was once mine." 

The two shifted into their animal forms, the Ankh jangling around Kurama's neck, and then they lept away into the forest, heading due south. Both felt something watching them, but neither mentioned it. It wouldn't have mattered if they had. 

The forest had eyes. 

The Hunter was on the prowl. 

()()()()() 

WSJ: :p Well. Now you know how Kurama and Bakura are related. Half-brothers. *grin* Same father, different mothers. This is bound to have repercussions. Ooooh, and the Hunter's coming! ^^ Stay tuned! Big action coming right up! 

God bless minna-san! 


	4. The Thing That Is Mine

WSJ: *glances down at her notes curiously* Huh, part 1 is short... One or two more chapters, and we'll be ready to go on. 

Bakura: 0o; What, already? 

WSJ: =3 *nods* Yes indeed! We'll be moving on to the modern era very shortly! 

Hiei: *gags* Oh please, the horror of it all... 

Kurama: *blinks* Hiei? What are you doing here? 

Hiei: Hn. The ningen onna *points at WSJ* said I had to be. 

WSJ: ^^ Yup! Hope all you people like this, it's the first real battle of the fic, and it's nearly twice as long as the other chapters, to boot! Reviews please everyone!!! 

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO or YYH in any way, shape, or form. Kurama & Bakura's father, Silvanus, does belong to me though. 

Mwahahahaha... Someone mentioned the Hunter being a doppelganger. No, the Hunter isn't, but I liked the idea, so.... 

And on a side note: WAI! I LOVE JIN!!! 

**Vocabulary:**   
_Inari_ - the goddess that Kurama worships. She is, in fact, a Japanese kitsune goddess.   
_doppleganger_ - a mythical creature of a jell-like nature that can transform into a copy of virtually anything (although my version for this story does have its limits, as you'll see). A good example of a doppleganger is the Duel Monster's card Revival Jam, or the Jells from Monster Rancher.   
_ningen_ - Japanese - human, often used as a derrogitory term by demons.   
**(And, just to make sure we're all on the same level of thinking...)**   
_Makai_ - the demon world, closely linked with Reikai   
_Reikai_ - the spirit world, closely linked with Makai   
_Ningenkai_ - the human world, loosely linked with Makai and Reikai 

()()()()() 

Like a Thief in the Night 

Part One: Thieves of Makai 

Chapter 3 -- The Thing That Is Mine 

_Quote of the Chapter:_

"The future is what you make it."  
~(Unknown) 

They travelled for almost three weeks straight, only stopping for a few hours a night to catch what sleep and/or food they could. Both of them felt the Hunter, knew who he was and knew his eyes were on them. Neither of them spoke of it, though. It wasn't like there was anything they could do about him. He would catch up with them sooner or later, although both thieves did their best to make sure it was 'later'. 

Once, about three days deep into a forest, Bakura went off into the woods alone. A few minutes later Kurama, sitting by the small, smokey fire they'd managed to get going, heard a howl go up from quite close by. The kitsune knew about the Howl, the way that demon wolves and wolf-demons communicated amongst themselves. Within moments, several answering howls came from around them. It went on for quite some time, and at times was just one long howl voiced by all the wolves within a five mile radius. To Kurama it all sounded the same, but he knew that they were sending news. Kitsune and okami spoke the same base language when in animal form, and thus could speak to one another no matter what shape they were in, without having to resort to the Common Tongue spoken by all creatures in Makai and Reikai, which was quite like the Ningenkai language of Japanese. However, kitsune couldn't understand an okami's howls, and most of the time okami couldn't distinguish between the low, rolling purrs that kitsune used as their own form of private interspecies communication. 

Kitsune and okami were alike in many ways, not the least of which were the canine characteristics of both, but just because two species are alike doesn't mean they get along. The two races had been at odds for as long as anyone could remember. The first recorded kitsune/okami war had been nearly a hundred thousand years ago, but there had been another three major ones since then. The first had been around 60,000 years ago, the second about 15,000 years ago, and the latest only a scant 2,000 years ago. Although Kurama had not yet been born, Bakura had participated in that war, although he refused to tell Kurama anything about it. 

Partnerships and even matings between the species were rare, but did happen. The races were alike enough that occationally a kitsune who could howl or an okami with multiple tails did show up. Such pairings were usually looked down upon by both sides, if not attacked outright. 

The one exception was Kurama and Bakura. They had been challenged a great many times in the past because of their heritage, but after several teams of assasins were sent packing, people stopped trying. 'They're _good,_' people would say. 'Best to leave them alone.' 

And so usually, they were. At least for that reason. 

Bakura came back an hour or so later, after the Howl had stopped. Kurama glanced up at him, and then tossed another stick into the fire. "Any news?" He made sure to keep his face and tone of voice bland. 

Bakura grimaced. "There's a large pack of okami denning nearby, and they don't like you being here. We'll probably have to move on a little quicker than anticipated. I told them who we were, but they don't seem to care too much." 

Kurama shrugged and brushed his hair back from his face. "I figured as much. Wolves are always _so_ territorial." 

Among a more normal group of kitsune and okami, this comment would surely have sparked a fight, but Kurama and Bakura had gotten over their racial differences several centuries ago and had moved on. You are what you are, and you get along with who you get along with, parentage aside. It had taken them considerably longer to get used to the fact of their brotherhood, which seemed a much stranger thing. 

Their father, Silvanus, had been an earth sprite or, as they were more commonly called, a Terra Mage. He could control plants, manipulating them to his will, a powerful and rare skill that he had passed on to both his sons. Kurama's mother had been a kitsune girl of uncommon beauty, while Bakura's was an okami woman. Why Silvanus had been attracted to such vastly different lovers, no one could say. But no one could deny that Kurama and Bakura were their father's sons. Both shared his tall, lanky build and his pure white hair, a trademark that had earned him fear and respect in the criminal underworlds of Makai, Reikai, and even Ningenkai. 

"Come on then," Bakura said, grabbing his small roll of possesions and tossing Kurama his. "Let's get the hell out of here." 

Two days later, they had arrived. 

The forest had given way abruptly to rocky hills, and it was among these hills that the cave where the Sennen Ring lay imprisoned was located. Bakura led his half-brother straight to it, although to Kurama all the hills and crags and caves looked the same. Both were restless, and in a hurry to finish this. They could feel the Hunter behind them, coming closer with every breath. 

"How did you know your way here?" Kurama asked as the two of them crouched behind some boulders outside the cave. Neither of them had forgotten the monster that was supposed to guard the cave, and were going to keep a sharp eye out until night fell, when they would make their move. 

Bakura was silent for a long while. "In Egypt, I played a Shadow Game and won, taking the Sennen Ring from the worthless fool of a ningen priest that held it. For a long, long time the Ring was mine. I spent all my time in those days plundering ningen tombs with an orphaned demon named Malachai, the both of us posing as humans ourselves. A lot of that wealth I still have, hidden in Makai. The pharaoh of the time had a good heart, but he was a simpering fool. I ran tracks around him easily. But then one day he changed. 

"He wasn't a weak young boy anymore. Oh, he still looked the same on the outside, except maybe around the eyes, but he was strong now. Everyone noticed the change in personality, and all praised their now strong and wise pharoah. All but me. You see, the pharaoh hadn't just had a sudden change of heart. He'd been killed, and a demon had replaced him. Being demons ourselves, Malachai and I were the only ones who noticed the demonic aura around the pharaoh. 

"He came after me, and I fled Egypt, leaving the Ring in Malachai's hands. I intended to return for it, as soon as the pharaoh grew tired of the chase, but he never has. You know the story from there on. Pharaoh abandonned his kingdom, the Sennen Items were sealed away, and pharaoh hasn't given me, us, a moment's peace since." 

Kurama was nodding thoughtfully. "I wonder why he hates our family so much, this pharaoh-demon." 

Bakura shrugged and shook his head. "Hell only knows. I haven't seen Malachai in years and years, so I assume he was killed off in some skirmish." 

"I met him once, didn't I? On the short side, dark skin, black hair, lavendar eyes?" 

Bakura nodded. "A long time ago, when you were barely twenty. That was the last time I saw him. But now, _now_ I finally have the chance to reclaim what is rightfully mine." 

"May Inari protect us," Kurama muttered. "Do you have any idea what sort of demon could be waiting for us?" 

"No," Bakura said, frowning. "In Egypt the sorcerers could summon monsters out of stone tablets and have them do their battling for them. The pharaoh can summon monsters even without the tablets. It could be one of those, sustained for milleniums by the power of the Ring, but I doubt it. Most of the tablets were destroyed in the final battle over the possesion and sealing of the Items. That was right before I fled Egypt. No, I have no idea what Koenma's going to be throwing at me." 

Kurama looked startled. "Don't you mean us?" 

Bakura shook his head firmly. "No, I mean me. The Ring is my property, and any guardians are my problem. You are _not_ to get yourself involved, do you hear me?" 

"But-" 

"No buts. I won't have you being hurt over my Ring. If things go wrongly, take the Ankh and escape, but _do not interfere._" 

Kurama looked like he was going to argue, but sighed and bit back a retort. "Okay _oniisan_, whatever you wish." 

Bakura winced. It was hardly ever that Kurama called him big brother, and usually it was when he was annoyed. "Kurama..." 

"Look, I understand." Kurama said sharply. "The Ring is yours and if you get yourself killed it's no problem of mine." 

"Otouto, don't be this way." Bakura growled. "We have enough troubles with the Hunter at our back. We can't be fighting now." 

Kurama sighed deeply. "I know, I know. I'm sorry." 

"So am I." Bakura said, nodding. He glanced up at the sun, which was sinking behind the hills. "Off I go. You can come and watch, but if I catch you trying to get involved I'll kick your butt." 

Kurama nodded, and the two stealthily crept from their shelter, making for opposite sides of the cave mouth. Inside all was dark, but both of them caught the faint gleam of a fire or candle far back in the cave. They nodded at each other across the opening, their faces firmly set. From here on in, it was all professional. 

Bakura led the way, sliding easily into the shadows as he crept down the narrow passageway, trying to avoid any clutter on the ground that he might accidently kick. Any noise could theoreticlly be the death of them both. Kurama followed him in, his vulpine pupils widening to almost enitrely round to let in extra light. Like a cat, Kurama's pupils were merely vertical slashes through his iris. The narrow tunnel continued for a few hundred feet, and the light continued to get brighter, until it was obvious that the light must mark the passage's end. 

The thieves stopped in the shadows around the arched ending of the tunnel, peering out into the small circular room beyond. It seemed to be a crude copy of the circular shrine the Ankh had been in, all done in red rock and black obsidian. The alter stood at the center, carved from the very floor of the cave itself. On either side stood a tall candelabra burning black candles, looking quite out of place in the middle of a cave. The cave ended here, there was no other way out. No one was in sight. In the light of the candles, Kurama could just make out the same hieratic script that had been on the door to the Ankh chamber carved into the base of the alter. Or at least, he assumed it was the same script. To him it all looked like scribbles. 

Bakura's eyes glittered in delight as he saw the Sennen Ring laying on the alter. No one besides Kurama was in sight. No guards, no demon guardian, no kaa beast. 

Nothing. 

Bakura stepped forward, a grin tugging at his features as he reached out a hand to take the Ring. Just as he was about to close his hand around it, he heard Kurama cry a warning from the entrance. The werewolf spun, drawing his sword and slashing out in one motion. His hand told him that he swung the sword and slashed the... the _thing_ that had appeared behind him, but his eyes begged otherwise. The sword did cut through the thing, but it reformed itself, like jelly! Even after Bakura had cut clean through it! All the way in two! 

The thing made a hissing sound and _flowed_ backward, forming itself into something vaguely human in appearance, or at least it had two arms, two legs, and a head. It seemed to be made out of a jell/liquid sort of thing, but it was cloudy, giving it a sort of misty whitish look. As Bakura and Kurama watched, a sort of a face formed on the head. Or at least, there was something that looked like a nose, and two depressions where eyes should be, but there was no visible mouth. Or eyes either, actually, nor ears. 

"What the hell is it?" Bakura yelped, fumbling for his sword, which he'd dropped in surprise at the sight of the thing. He looked at it and swore. The creature's insides must be some kind of acid, because it was beginning to corode his blade! He threw away the useless knife and ran a hand through his hair, pulling out one of his seeds. "That was my favorite sword, you bastard!" 

"That was your only sword." Kurama called helpfully. Bakura hissed at him to be quiet, but in a moment they were both silenced as a strange gurgling, bubbling sound came from the creature. They realized it was _laughing_. 

_"Yes, most amusing,"_

The voice arrived directly into their heads without bothering to go through their ears, and both thieves stared in surprise at the creature. 

_"I am the Guardian, the One charged with protecting this Sennen Item from unworthy hands. I'm afraid I shall have to challenge you if you wish to take this artifact."_

"Take, my foot!" Bakura muttered savagely, fingering the seed in his hand. "The Sennen Ring is mine and always has been, ever since I won it from that fool, Mahaado." 

_"Ah, so you are the one called Yami Bakura, then."_ the Guardian said, a saticfied tone in its voice. _"I was beginning to wonder if you would come. Even though technicly the Ring is yours, as you say, you shall still have to fight me for it."_

Bakura groaned slightly. "And you're a doppleganger. I remember now, you're something that can be anything! How am I going to fight something like that?!" 

There was a sense of amusement coming from the creature. _"For this battle, I shall choose only one form and stay in it, if that pleases you. You may still change if you want, of course."_

Bakura raised an eyebrow. This thing had been holed up here for _how_ many thousand years, and it knew his name _and_ that he was a werewolf? 

_"I know many things about you."_ it said, confirming Bakura's suspicions that it could read his mind, and probably Kurama's too. _"And I truly am sorry about your sword. I really didn't mean to coat it in acid, you just startled me."_

Bakura grunted. Great, a doppleganger with a sense of wit. Peachy. "So choose your form and lets get this over with already! That stupid Hunter's getting way too close for comfort!" 

The Guardian was silent for a minute, as if thinking. Bakura felt something strange, as if the universe were suddenly expanding, but the Guardian's voice broke the weird trance. _"I think..."_ its voice was soft, as if it wasn't even talking to them at all. _"I think... Yes, that shall be an... appropriate form to take."_ It began to shift, its jelly-like flesh writhing and reforming itself. It was grotesque to watch, but Bakura found himself unable to look away. A small, detatched part of his mind wondered if the Guardian had bones at all, or if it held itself in shape by sheer force of will. 

The Guardian grew taller, until it was about Bakura's height, and the legs lengthened. Within moments, its proportions were exactly that of a typical teenage human male, wearing a loose shirt, pants, and a long trench coat. The back of its head and neck was moving too, and Bakura realized with some chagrin that it was actually forming a ponytail. The face changed too. No longer just indistinct blobs for the eyes and nose, it suddenly sprang into sharp focus. Bakura blinked in surprise as he stared at the face, which seemed to be carved from chiseled stone. Although it was still very fluid-like, it was like the face was a hardened mask that the Guardian had simply chosen to wear. Though the lips were there, they didn't move. The skin, clothing, and hair were all the same colour, that same ethreal misty white. The eyes were blank, no pupil or iris, and it gave one the creepy feeling that this thing was staring into your soul without the trivial formality of using its eyes. 

Holding one perfectly formed hand out in front of it, the Guardian concentrated, manipulating more of itself into a weapon. A long rod, nearly six feet in length, sprung from its hand, and it closed its hands around it in a two-handed grip. As soon as that had been done, long thorns sprung up along the length of it, reminding Bakura of a stiff version of Kurama's Rose Whip. 

(WSJ: *coughs into her hand* Ebony-chan, you should know this one....) 

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Ah, so that's how you want to play, eh? So who are you modeled after? It's obviously a specific person. You seem to have gotten every detail down pat." 

_"I cannot say, tomb thief. You have not met him yet."_

Bakura's eyebrows rose into his hairline. "Have not met him _yet_? You mean you can see the future?" 

_"No,"_ the Guardian answered crypticly. _"I only see you."_

Bakura snorted. "Whatever. All right, then, let's dance! Thorn Staff!" Channeling his spirit energy into the seed he was holding, it sprang into a long, thorned staff in a shower of golden rose petals. Now both of them held staffs of almost the same length. Both took up fighting stances, the Guardian's face blank, while Bakura took on a determined scowl. 

The Guardian seemed calm and confident, waiting for Bakura to give the signal to begin, but Bakura's mind was working furiously. How was he going to beat something that could reform itself after every injury? Not to mention the fact that it apparently bled acid. Bakura tightened his grip on the staff, his muscles tensing. Then he charged with a loud cry, swinging his staff toward the doppleganger's head. 

Rather than bring up its own staff to block, the Guardian threw itself backward, using one hand to flip itself backward and out of range. It landed on its feet again, but was quickly forced on the defensive as Bakura kept up the attack, spinning his staff over his head in a whirl of deadly sharp thorns. The Guardian brought its own Thorn Staff up to block, and the two grappled briefly before Bakura sprang away, shifting his grip on his staff. 

To be able to wield a Thorn Staff the way these two were took great concentration. Since in traditional staff fighting the user's grip was ever shifting, ever changing, it was only a very skilled Terra Mage or a doppleganger who could use a Thorn Staff properly. As the hands changed possition, the thorns in that area would have to be pulled back into the staff before they impaled the person wielding it, and new thorns had to be grown where the hands had just been. Kurama knew the basic technique, but much preferred his Rose Whip instead. Watching Bakura and the Guardian fight was like watching some sort of dance. It was beautiful and horrible, all at the same time. 

The Guardian sprang after Bakura, pressing the attack. Bakura hissed as one of the thorns caught him in the shoulder, tearing a long gash in the skin. He brought up his own staff to block against further attack and jumped back again. He hit something, nearly knocking the wind out of him, and he realized that he'd fallen back against the alter. Groping behind him, his hand found the smooth gold of the Ring, and he jerked it free of its place. He held it in front of him as the doppleganger attacked, and a burst of bright silver light spilled from the Eye of Horus located at the center of the Sennen Ring. 

_"Yes... Just as I saw... You are worthy."_

The Guardian screamed briefly as the light flooded over it, and a moment later it was gone. 

Bakura sank to the floor, breathing heavily, as Kurama hurried over to kneel next to him. "Are you okay?" 

Bakura nodded breathlessly, looping the Ring's leather cord around his neck and feeling the familiar cool weight of it against his chest. He then shrank the Thorn Staff back into a rose seed and stuck it back into his hair, holding it in place for a moment as it sent out tiny roots just under his skin to anchor it in place. "By Allah, I hope I never have to fight a doppleganger again." 

"That was a pretty short fight, actually." Kurama observed, helping his brother to his feet and tearing off a small strip of his shirt so he could bind up the cut on Bakura's shoulder. 

"Yes, but just long enough." 

Both thieves froze at the sound of the voice and slowly turned to face the door. He still stood mostly in shadow, his red eyes glowing dimmly in the darkness, but they knew who he was without a doubt. He reached under the long coat he wore and drew a sword, smirking wide enough so that the brothers could see his fangs. Bakura cursed, glancing down at his acid-corroded sword. Instinctively he pushed Kurama behind him, reaching up to pull several seeds out of his hair. Kurama did the same. 

They backed away as the figure stepped into the light, revealing spiked red and black hair, and lightning blond bangs. His red eyes gleamed in bloodlust, and the golden pendant around his neck shimmered slightly. It was no rumor, then. The Sennen Puzzle really was in the Hunter's hands. 

There was no where left to run, but Bakura'd be damned if they went down without a fight. 

The Hunter had found them at last. 

()()()()() 

WSJ: *cackles* Whooo! Hunter! X3 By now you should've figured out that yes, the Hunter is none other than Yami no Yuugi. But from Bakura's little rant, you may be confused about what exactly happened back in Egypt. And I'm sure you're all wondering about Malachai. And, if you paid attention, about the form the doppleganger took. 

Hiei: -_- And you're not going to tell them, are you? 

WSJ: Of course not! They'll have to keep reading! *grins* So stay tuned! Unfortunately, although I know almost exactly how the next chapter's going to go, I have musical practice almost every night for the next two weeks to get ready for opening night on the 26th, so I don't think I'll get the next chapter out before then. *cringes* I might though, you never know. 

Ryou: *sighs* And yes, WSJ is still working on HSH and HSWA. This has just been the one that gets the most attention. 

WSJ: Reviews please! 

God bless minna-san! 


	5. Predator and Prey

Well now, it's about time this movie came in! :p [huggles the YYH movie and drools] Kurama in the baaaath... 

Hiei: [mutters to himself] 

Kurama & Bakura: [sweatdrop] 

WSJ: [pokes Bakura] Disclaimer! Now! 

Bakura: [glare] SJ doesn't own YYH or YGO. Yay. 

WSJ: Right then! We've already had a long enough delay, so on to the show! ;) 

()()()()() 

Like a Thief in the Night 

Part One: Thieves of Makai 

Chapter 4 -- Predator and Prey 

The Hunter took a menacing step forward, and Bakura and Kurama both pressed back against the alter, unable to retreat any farther. The sword the hunter was holding was a long broadsword. Any human would have had to use two hands to lift it, but the demon weilded it easily in only one. His eyes glowed faintly red, and his grin was almost manic. "At last," he said, his voice almost hissing from between his fangs. "At last I can fulfill my oath, and rest in peace." 

"What oath?" Bakura snarled, snapping his wrist down and shooting one of his rose seeds out into a staff. He made no move to attack yet, holding the staff in front of him defencively and keeping a wary eye on the Hunter. "Why have you hunted me all these long centuries?" 

"The oath I took the day my sister was _murdered_ by your kind!" the Hunter snarled. "I swore I'd kill off him and all his kin, and you are the only ones left!" 

Kurama snorted. "Obsessed much?" 

"Quiet fox!" the Hunter snapped. "You have no conceivable idea what your ancestor did to her! She was my little sister, and I swore I'd protect her. And so I shall! I'll _kill_ you!" He roared, and suddenly dove forward, the point of his sword poised to impale Bakura. The okami threw himself aside, as did Kurama, and the brothers rolled to their feet easily, Bakura shrinking his staff back into a seed and, lacking the time to put it back into his hair, channeled his energy so it took root in the palm of his hand. The Hunter's sword smashed into the alter, which crumbled and began to hiss and steam. By mutual concent, Bakura and Kurama leaped for the door, hoping to be able to make it to the rocky hills where at least they'd have some advantage. 

"Damn!" Kurama hissed as they heard the Hunter coming after them. "He's completely insane! That blade of his is cursed!" 

Bakura nodded grimly. "Apparently so. But we won't go down that easily, right Kurama?" 

The kitsune nodded, and both of them slid to a stop about halfway down the tunnel, where it widened out slightly. They'd been allowed to choose their battleground, and it was here that they chose to fight. The rocky tunnel was vaguely round, about twenty feet in diameter. There was also very little light, giving Kurama and Bakura a great advantage, as both of them could see extremely well in the dark and could blend into shadows despite their light skin and hair. The Hunter, on the other hand, while he wore dark clothes, stuck out like a sore thumb because of his glowing eyes. 

The Hunter was in the tunnel with them now, and was searching in vain among the protruding rocks for his prey. He muttered a curse and clutched his sword tighter. "Come out, come out little demons," 

"Why should we?" Bakura asked from the darkness. He was crouching on a small ledge about halfway up the left side of the tunnel, a few feet away from the Hunter's current possition. Kurama was hidden on the floor in a crack in the wall on the other side, his vulpine eyes peering out at the Hunter's exposed back. The way Bakura's voice echoed among the rocks, the Hunter had no way of telling where it came from. 

"We should be the ones hunting _you_," the okami continued, his lips twisting into a sneer. "You killed our father, and Kurama's mother. My own mother is in hiding, maybe dead for all I've seen of her the past thousand years. Malachai and Kuronue, both old and dear friends, are missing, probably dead, probably because of you. Kurama and I are constantly on the run, not just because of the thieves we are but because of your 'great revenge'. So one of our ancestors killed your sister. So what? You've killed our entire family, a lot of our friends. It's us who should be seeking revenge, not you." 

The Hunter appeared unmoved by the speech. "You know nothing of love. How can you possibly comapare your pitiful losses to the way my heart died the day Ankhas did? I've lived in hell for fifty thousand years because of my own foolish oath, but _now I can kill you to fulfill it!_" 

Kurama glowered in the darkness and quietly shifted to his fox form, five tails swishing dimly in the darkness. He might have never known his parents or Malachai very well, but Kuronue had been his best friend growing up. The thought that the Hunter might have killed him chilled him to the bone. Bakura had the Hunter distracted enough so that his guard was down, his sword at ease at his side. With a roar, Kurama shot out of his hiding place, his claws extended to their full, terrible length and his jaws open wide, ready to tear into the flesh of the Hunter. The Ankh flared brightly in the darkness and perhaps that's what ultimately gave him away. 

The Hunter was not at ease at all. In a flash, his sword was up and he'd pivoted on his right foot. Bakura could only watch in horror from his place on the ledge as things seemed to slow to a snail's pace. Kurama, poised in midair, tails streaming behind him as he prepared to fall on the Hunter. The Hunter himself, a look of determined malice on his face, spinning on one foot and driving his sword deep into Kurama's side. The thrust cut the leather cord that held the Ankh around Kurama's neck, and it clattered to the stone floor. The light from it died, but now both Puzzle and Ring were shining brightly, so the light was more than enough to see the deep red blood spurt from Kurama's wound and splatter across the Hunter's face. 

_"Noooooooooo!!!"_

Time sped up again. Kurama fell heavily to the ground, the Hunter's sword still embedded in his side. The Hunter smirked calmly, licking Kurama's blood off his lips. Kurama was obviously unconcious, blood pooling under him, but when he spontaneously reverted to his humanoid form, Bakura knew he was dying. 

"You bastard!!" Throat choked his rage and grief, Bakura launched himself off the ledge, driving headfirst toward the Hunter. This time he wasn't expecting an attack, and had no sword to defend himself. Bakura's palm smacked him in the face, and both of them tumbled to the ground. Blinded by anger, Bakura let loose all his spirit energy at once, consentrating it on the seed he had embedded in his palm. 

It burst into bloom, and the Hunter screamed as the sharp, thorny canes tangled around him, caging him in their green masses. One of them caught him in the eye, and he howled in pain. Bakura threw himself backward, not allowing himself to become tangled up as well. The thorns writhed as if they were things possessed, until they completely covered the form of the Hunter. A moment later heavy golden blooms sprang forth, releasing the sweet scent of roses into the tunnel. Bakura could not see the Hunter, couldn't see whether he still lived or not, but at the moment he didn't care. His spirit energy was exhausted, he had nothing left to give. Turning, he stumbled to Kurama's side and dropped to his knees. 

To his surprise, the kitsune was still stubbornly alive, sucking in every breath with what had to be great pain. When Bakura gently eased his head into his lap, Kurama's eyes fluttered open and his lips moved weakly. Bending over his brother, Bakura strained to catch his words. 

"Ningen... child... take my spirit... will live again... find me... my brother..." 

"I will," Bakura said, nodding affirmation. "If you are cursed to live as a human, my brother, I will too. We'll find each other again, I swear it." He took hold of the hilt of the sword and in one swift motion jerked it out of Kurama's side. The kitsune gasped in pain as blood spilled from the wound, and Bakura smiled thinnly. "On my blood and yours, we will live again." 

Kurama nodded and weakly reached up a hand to cover Bakura's on the hilt of the sword. "Meet... again..." 

With the promise made and the spell ready to take hold, Bakura plunged the sword into his breast, feeling the curse on it begin to eat away at him. He fell next to his brother, and the two demons grinned as well as they could. 

"Unseal the soul and... let it go... travel between... worlds unknown... till it find a host... to claim... as its own..." Bakura spoke the spell that would send their spirits to the human world, and clasped his brother's hand in his. "Well met... Kurama..." 

Kurama nodded, eyes sparkling with unshed tears. Bakura was surprised to find that among the blood that was trickling from his lips and soaking into his hair, their were tears on his cheeks too. "Yes, fare thee well... Bakura..." 

As their blood mingled on the stone floor, their hands clasped and eyes staring into emptiness, Kurama the kitsune and Bakura the okami, once the greatest thieves in all the worlds, died. 

For a long time all was still in the cave. The heady fragrance of roses, Bakura and Kurama's trademark, mingled with the smell of blood and sweat and the faint salt of tears. But eventually there was a gentle rustling among the rose canes. Slowly at first, and then faster, the rose blooms withered and died, golden petals turning brown and dropping to the floor like tarnished snow. Then the canes themselves turned brown and brittle, until they were easily broken by the figure that emerged from among them. 

The Hunter stumbled to his feet, his clothing torn and dripping blood from a million cuts and thorn punctors. His right eye was a mass of blood, and he was trembling in sheer anger. When he saw that his prey were laying already dead on the cold stone, he cursed violently. But then something stopped him, something peculiar. There was something not quite right about the corpses. The Hunter had lain among the thorns for at least three days. The demons' bodies should have decomposed at least a little by now, but it appeared they hadn't. In fact, when the Hunter stepped forward to yank his sword out of Bakura, the blood underfoot was still warm and sticky, and the corpses were not yet stiff. 

The Hunter smirked, realizing what the demons had done. They'd sent their souls not to the afterlife, but to the human world, where they would find new hosts and live as humans with demon powers. Oh this was truly sweet! Both demons had been thoughroughly exhausted, so as likely as not they would sleep unaware in their hosts minds for many years before they awakened. The Hunter could have his revenge yet. 

But in a small way, he was glad they would not awaken for awhile. He needed a rest too. He was not the kind of man to go hunt down the hosts and kill them in ignorant innocence. No, he would wait until the demon parts of them awakened, and then he would take up the hunt again. A challenge was what he delighted in, and he wanted those fool demons aware of the moment he killed them. Besides, he had waited for fifty thousand years to kill off the last of this rediculously huge clan. Another eight or ten years wouldn't hurt. He would take up the hunt again in a decade, he decided with saticfaction. And until then, he'd need a name. It had been a very long time since he'd had a name... 

"Darkness," the Hunter mused, glancing around him with his one good eye. "Darkness and shadows. Yami. I'm Yami." 

And it was so. 

But there was still the matter of these bodies. They'd need to be really and truly dead when Koenma's agents arrived, not just the soulless dead they were now. Swiftly, Yami brought his sword down to hack off first Kurama's, and then Bakura's head. There, now they would die, the bastards. Oh, not their spirits. He'd kill their spirits in a decade. 

Tossing his sword down beside the bodies so Koenma would know whose handiwork this was, Yami pulled what was left of his ragged cloak tightly around him and vanished into the shadows. He'd report back to Koenma in a decade or so. Now, he needed to rest and regain his strength. He needed to heal. Maybe a sleep in the back of a mortal mind wouldn't be so bad. 

So Yami, too, set out for the human world. 

-()-

_And so it was that the two greatest thieves the worlds have ever seen passed out of Makai. Koenma's agents, led by Botan, came upon the cave not an hour after Yami's departure to find the two bodies and Yami's sword, along with the tangle of dead roses. Rumors flew with the speed of a hurricane, and before long they reached the ears of Koenma, who happily declared both of the demons dead. _

Yami knew otherwise, of course, but he was saying nothing. He had found a suitable host among the humans, and now slept quietly and regained the strength that three days in a briar of demon roses had sapped from him. Koenma wondered where his Hunter was gone, but was none too worried. He knew that if Yami were missing, he had good reason for it and would be back eventually. 

Coincidentally, Koenma knew nothing of Yami's hidden agenda. He didn't know Yami had ever had a sister, nor did he know the real reason Yami hunted Kurama and Bakura so adamently. He didn't even know how dangerously close to insane Yami was. He only knew he was a good and valuable agent. 

The Sennen Ankh and the Sennen Ring, taken from the corpses of the two thieves, were given over to the Abdul family, the same line that protected the Scales. There they would stay, enshrined with the other Item, until someone else with a worthy heart claimed them. Considering who their last owners had been, Koenma sincerely hoped that that was a long, long time away. 

It would be another ten years before anyone realized what Yami already knew, that the thieves were indeed still alive. For as they died, Kurama had sent his spirit into an unborn ningen child, waiting for the day he could awaken again. Bakura did as well, purposefully choosing someone he knew would cross paths with Kurama in the future: the cousin of Kurama's new human body. But Bakura misjudged the timing. The host he chose was indeed an infant, but had already been born. As such, he could not erase the babe's personality and replace it with his own, as Kurama did. Instead, he could only reside inside the baby, as a seperate personality. Little Ryou Bakura, though he didn't know it, had been possessed. 

Bakura let himself sleep inside the child's mind, resting from the final battle with Yami. Kurama too, slept. They regathered their strength, knowing in the backs of their minds that they would meet again. Destiny wasn't done with them yet. And so they slept, their demon memories and powers hidden from their human bodies and souls until the time when they were awakened. 

The adventure was just beginning... 

**End Part One**

()()()()() 

WSJ: :D Well, there you go! 

Kurama: . You killed me... 

WSJ: [hugs him] Aww, I know it was mean, but it's necessary for the plot! You're alive again next chapter anyway. 

Kurama: Oh, that's okay then. =) 

Bakura: [sighs] SJ's going to be out of town from June 13-June 22, on a missions trip in Mexico, so don't expect anything out of her at that time. Although she swears she'll get right back to writing as soon as she gets home, I somehow doubt it. 

Hiei: [gets poked by WSJ] Fine! Reviews please. [grumbles about having to advertise] 

God bless minna-san! 


	6. Part Two: Growing Up Human

WSJ: [blinks] Goodness, this is a quick update. At least for me. :) I _should_ be doing laundry and getting packed for Mexico. What am I really doing? ;3 Sitting around in my pajamas, eating chips, and writing.

Ryou: [eye twitches as he glances over the chapter] Did you have to bring me into this?

WSJ: =3 Yes. You're cute. Now be quiet or do disclaimer.

Ryou: [quickly shuts up]

WSJ: [sighs and pokes Hiei]

Hiei: [annoyed glare] Hn. The ningen gaijin onna doesn't own me, the fox, the wolf, or the little white mouse.

Ryou: Hey!

Hiei: Further more, although she wishes she did, she doesn't own any aspect of Yu Yu Hakusho or Yuugioh, for which we characters are very thankful.

Ryou, Kurama, & Bakura: [quasi-Python] Yay.

WSJ: 0o; That was very... thorough, Hiei. Thank you. I do want to add, however, a note about the timeline. This starts up eight years after the previous chapter. Bakura, Kurama, and Yami have all slept for eight years. Ryou's mother is already dead, although his sister Amane is not. Kurama's human father is also already dead. Most of the next few chapters will center on Ryou and Bakura. ;) We'll be back to Kurama and more of both casts soon enough.

Oh, and someone asked why roses would hurt Yami so much. Think about the fact that they're demon roses, grown in Makai. Yeah, not nice. They've got some very nasty properties you'll find out about later on. =D Well, without further ado, on to part 2!

()()()()()

Like a Thief in the Night

Part Two: Growing Up Human

Chapter 1 -- Awakening

Darkness... For a long time, all he knew was darkness... The shadows had always comforted and hidden him, and now they curled around him and cushioned him from the world. He was safe in their embrace, and for a long time, he was content...

It came so slowly that at first he wasn't even aware of it. A soft light, and a sound, like a voice. It whispered his name to him as the light drew nearer, and he whimpered and shied away, snuggling back against the shadows.

_'No... Let me be... I don't want to wake up yet...'_

Still the light drew nearer, it hurt his eyes just to look at it, and he whimpered again. He tried to cover his eyes with his hands, but found that he couldn't move. Chains weighted down his wrists and his ankles, and he couldn't move at all.

_'Just let me sleep, I'm still so tired...'_

But then the light was upon him, and he saw, for an instant, the form that the doppelganger had taken. A human boy, fifteen years old or so. The light shown from behind him, creating a halo so he couldn't see the boy's face. The boy bent down and held out a hand to him, and again he whimpered and tried to back away.

_'No! I don't want to wake! Sleep is so comforting, oblivion is bliss...'_

But against his own will his hand lifted and took the boy's. The chains fell away, and suddenly they were standing side-by-side. For a moment Bakura saw something, a flash of a scene. Himself, standing with the boy. On the boy's other side, a tall redhead who looked familiar to him. Beyond the redhead, a short demon with black hair. Beside Bakura, a human with black hair and a determined scowl. Next to him, a tanned blond who was neither demon nor human, and a girl with bright powder blue hair.

_'What is this? Why am I dreaming now? I've never dreamed before...'_

But by then the vision had faded, back into the mists where it had come from. The light faded too, leaving Bakura in darkness once again. But now the darkness was different. It was no longer the darkness of a deeply sleeping mind, but rather the darkness of the inside of his eyelids.

A soft sound reached his ears, like the frieghtened mewl of a cat, and he cracked his eyes open with a groan.

He was laying on a low bed, covered lightly with a sheet. Turning his head he could see a desk up against one wall, and next to it a large mounted bookcase that stood empty. The floor seemed to be covered with sand, and the walls were painted with a mural of desert life, with the great Giza Sphinx and the pyramids directly over his bed. The room was dark, but light was spilling in from a half-open door in one wall.

Standing in that door was a boy of about eight years old. He had white hair that reached just past his shoulders and wide brown eyes. He was dressed in a pair of blue pajamas and was barefoot. His eyes were wide as he stared at Bakura, and for a moment it looked like he was going to bolt.

"Don't be scared," Bakura said in as calm a voice as he could muster, sitting up and trying to be as non-threatening as possible. He didn't know what he'd do if the kid didn't understand the language, but at the moment he was too confused to care. Where was he? The last thing he remembered, he'd snared the Hunter in a briar of his demonic Makai roses, and then stabbed himself and spoken the spell that would free his and Kurama's souls.

Bakura frowned slightly. No, that wasn't all. There were memories after that, but they were all blurs, fuzzy, as if seen through a mist. He had the vague impression that he'd been a disembodied spirit when these memories were created. Faintly he recalled passing between Makai and Ningenkai. Even more indistinct was the image of a child, curled in on itself and sleeping.

That was his host, Bakura realized. He'd made a mistake. He'd planned to enter an unborn child, so the body would be completely his own. Instead, the baby had already been born, and so he'd possessed it. This boy-child of eight must be that baby he'd possessed. He'd been asleep so long... Had it really been eight years? Good gods, that meant they were bonded now! If a demon possessed a human for longer than three years, their souls became permanently attached, and they couldn't be ripped apart without both being killed!

Bakura shook off his thoughts, storing them in the back of his mind for later. The child was still staring at him with wide, wild eyes. "I-I'm scared anyway. Who are you? Why are you in my mind?"

Bakura frowned slightly. "This is your mind?"

The child nodded shakily. "My room's across the hall. I come here every night while I sleep, an' there's a big TV where I can watch my dreams. But tonight there was a door too, so I decided to see what it was. There's a real long hallway out here, and the door to this room is right across from mine. Who are you?" The child repeated his question.

Bakura felt his eyes go wide. This was demon legend coming to life right in front of him! It was said that when you possessed a human both of you were given a habitation in the mind, a "soulroom", if you will. "My name is Yami Bakura," he said numbly, deciding now was not the best time to tell the child he was a demon.

"You look like me," the child said, cocking his head to one side in interest. He no longer looked scared. "Are you another kind of dream?"

Bakura chuckled and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Though the room was dark, the sand was warm under his feet. "No. I'm real."

"Real?" the child asked.

"Yes, as real as you are. You may come in, if you like. I won't hurt you." And Bakura was surprised to find that he meant it. He'd always had a soft spot for little kids, especially after he'd raised Kurama practically from an infant, and Kuronue from not much older than that. And this boy-child was cute and innocent in a way that neither of the demons had been.

The boy smiled and took a couple cautious steps inside. "My name's Ryou Bakura," he said. "You have my name."

Bakura chuckled. "I do, don't I? Bizarre coincidence, that."

Ryou smiled and came closer. "Can I sit down?"

Bakura patted the bed next to him. "If you're not too scared of me."

Ryou sat down, his legs swinging over the side of the bed. "I'm not scared." He placed a hand on Bakura's knee. "You're warm, like daddy. Why would you scare me?"

"I..." Bakura faltered. "A long time ago, I was someone a lot of people were scared of."

"But not anymore?"

"I'm... not sure."

Ryou grinned widely and leaned against him. "Well, you don't scare me."

Bakura chuckled. "Good, because we're going to be together for a long, long time."

"Truly?" Ryou asked, and grinned when Bakura nodded. "Where did you come from?"

Bakura hesitated. "A long way away. You're too young to understand." _'Too pure to understand.'_ he added silently.

Ryou frowned in confusion, and Bakura ruffled his hair. "I'll tell you when you're older."

Ryou looked up at him with big brown eyes. "So you're going to stay with me?"

"Yes," Bakura said. "Our hearts are one, no matter what."

"I'm glad, Yami."

Bakura winced at the name. His spirit had been around long enough to witness the Hunter's christening of his new name. "Call me Bakura."

"Okay Bakura," Ryou started to say more, but was interrupted by a yawn. "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Bakura smiled. "As you wish." Ryou yawned again and laid his head down on Bakura's lap, drifting off into sleep. Bakura leaned back against the wall and stroked the child's back, wondering what to do now that he was finally awake. Well obviously, first and foremost, figure out what he could and couldn't do. If he couldn't manipulate plants, he'd be at a serious disadvantage if or when Yami started coming after him again. And then there was Kurama to think about. If Bakura had awakened, it was probably safe to say that Kurama would be soon, if he hadn't already.

Ryou murmured something in his sleep and snuggled against Bakura. The demon smiled. Yes, things needed to be done and a plan should be formed.

But it could wait until morning.

()()()()()

WSJ: X3 It's SO CUTE!!!!

Kurama: o0; You do realize, don't you, that you just wrote a chapter of nothing but fluff?

WSJ: Yeah? So?

Bakura: [grumbles] I don't do fluff...

Ryou: [puppy eyes] Not even for meeeee?

Bakura: Okay fine, maybe for you.

Hiei: [hiding somewhere]

WSJ: =3 Reviews please!

God bless minna-san!****


	7. Moving Day

WSJ: :p I'm back!!! I had SOOOOO much fun in Mexico! =D Much, much fun. But now, back to business! 

Bakura: X.X Oh help me... 

WSJ: :p No such luck, my muse. More fluff, ahoy! 

Hiei: ..... 

WSJ: pokes Ryou Do disclaimer! 

Ryou: sigh WSJ does not own YGO or YYH. Yay. 

Hiei: ....Hn.... 

_/blah/_ - Ryou to Bakura 

_//blah//_ - Bakura to Ryou 

_'blah'_ - private thoughts 

()()()()() 

Like a Thief in the Night 

Part Two: Growing Up Human 

Chapter 2 -- Moving Day 

Ryou yawned and blinked his eyes open, slightly surprised to find himself back in his own bedroom. Sunlight was streaming in through his window, and he sighed slightly. So it had just been another kind of dream, after all... 

_//Are you calling me a hallucination?//_

Ryou grinned, his good mood restored. "How are you doing that?" he asked out loud, sitting up in bed and stretching. 

_//Just think about what you want to say, and pretend to say it out loud, only in your head.// _

/Like this?/ 

//Very good! Just like that!// 

Bakura lapsed into silence then, and Ryou grinned. Rolling out of bed, he unzipped the large backpack that was sitting by the door and quickly dug out some clothes to wear. As he changed out of his pajamas, Bakura made himself known again. 

_//What's with all the boxes?//_

Ryou jumped a little, startled by the mental speech that had seemingly come out of no where. The floor of his room was covered by a maze of boxes, and there literally wasn't anything in there except boxes, his bed, and his backpack. _/We're moving today. Daddy got a new job in Kyoto./_ Bakura could feel sadness through the Mind Link. _/I don't want to leave all my friends.../_

_//I'm sure you'll make new ones.//_ Bakura told him. _//And you've got me. So if you're moving to Kyoto, where are you now? Who's we?//_

Ryou giggled as he finished packing his pajamas into his bag. _/You ask a lot of questions. This is Domino City, Japan. We're really close to Tokyo, so Kyoto's almost 300 miles away. 'We' is daddy and Amane and me./_

_//Who's Amane, your mom?//_

Ryou was quiet for a minute. _/No, mommy died a few years ago. Amane's my little sister, she's six./_

Bakura, who was lounging in his soulroom and watching what was going on outside through Ryou's eyes and ears, blinked. _//Oh,//_ he said quietly. _//I'm sorry about your mother, I know what it's like to lose someone close to you.//_ He tried not to think about Kurama. 

Ryou sensed the sudden sadness coming through the link, and felt an unexplainable urge to cheer the demon up. _/Do you want to go meet Amane?/_

_//Umm... It might not be a good idea to tell your family about me yet, Ryou.//_ Bakura said, obviously wary. _//We don't know what they'll do, or even if they'll believe you.//_

_/They'll believe me,/_ Ryou said, smiling a little. _/But I guess you're right./_

"Ryou!" A voice yelled up the stairs. "Hurry up, the movers are ready to start loading boxes!" 

"Okay daddy!" Ryou yelled back, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over one shoulder. He snatched the stuffed animal that was sitting on his pillow and headed for the stairs. Bakura noted with amusement that the animal Ryou had been cuddling with in his sleep was a wolf. Irony. Heh, you gotta love it. 

Downstairs several men in movers uniforms were already loading the boxes from the livingroom and kitchen. A tall man with dark purple hair and glasses was directing them. The couch was out on the front lawn, and a little girl with lavender hair was sitting on it, playing with a doll. A taller woman with short black hair was sitting next to her. 

"Aunt Shiori!" Ryou ran outside and all but pounced onto the couch, hugging the woman around the neck. She laughed and hugged him back as the little girl giggled. 

"Good morning Ryou," she said, smiling at him. "We were afraid the movers were going to have to load up the bed with you still in it." 

Ryou looked a little sheepish. "Sorry..." 

His aunt smiled and ruffled his hair, sitting him down on her lap. "Your father said you're going to get breakfast on the way to the new house, so just be patient, okay?" 

Ryou nodded. "Okay. Morning Amane." 

The little lavender haired girl smiled, leaning over to give him a hug. "Morning 'niisan." 

_/That's Amane,/_ Ryou pointed out to Bakura unnecessarily. _/And mommy's sister, my Aunt Shiori. And that's daddy./_ Mentally he pointed to the tall man with glasses. 

"I'm sorry Suuichi couldn't come," Shiori said apologetically, snapping Ryou back into the present. "He left for summer camp last night." 

"It's okay," Ryou said, though he looked a little sad. "He can send me a postcard at the new house." 

Shiori chuckled. "I'll make sure he does." She ruffled her nephew's hair and stood up, plopping him down next to his sister. "You guys sit quietly here and stay out of the way, all right? I'm going to go make sure the movers don't break your mother's china." 

"Okay auntie," the two children chorused. Ryou set his bookbag down at his feet and unzipped it, putting his stuffed wolf inside and pulling out a book. He settled back against the couch and opened it up, pretending to read, while in reality talking to Bakura. It was a ruse they would go on to use a lot in the coming years. 

_//Suuichi?//_ Bakura asked, wondering why the name sounded so familiar. Maybe it was someone he'd robbed once, or something. 

_/My cousin,/_ Ryou answered. _/Aunt Shiori's son. They live in an apartment down the street. Uncle Masao died a few years ago, so it's just the two of them. Suuichi's my best friend in the whole world./_

Bakura chuckled, but then blinked as he registered what Ryou's eyes were seeing. _//Ryou, what are you reading?//_

_/Oh, this? It's just something I found at the library.../_ Ryou turned the book so he, and therefore Bakura, could see the cover where the title was written. _/Beginner's Guide to Demons, see? I'm gonna be a ghost hunter when I grow up!/_

Bakura blinked, and then blinked again, wondering if this kid's interest in demons had sparked from having one sleeping in the back of his mind. Closing his metaphysical eyes for a minute, Bakura focused his senses on the child and realized with a start just how powerful Ryou would become. Why, when he hit puberty and gained control of all that Spirit Energy stored up inside him, he could go nose-to-nose with any of Koenma's so called Spirit Detectives and probably win! Hell, he'd probably give a whole bunch of B class demons trouble! That is, if he was properly trained... 

Settling back against the wall of his soulroom and tuning out Ryou for awhile, Bakura thought on this notion. Here he was, a demon bonded to a kid with at least as much raw power as a mid-B class demon. Ryou was interested in demons _anyway_, so that took care of the problem of him freaking out when he found out what Bakura really was. If Bakura took him on as an apprentice of sorts, taught him how to use his power... 

The only real problem was how Bakura could teach him. They could do it at night, of course, while they were both in the soulrooms, but that left their minds and souls without any rest. Maybe there was a spell Bakura could use to create a physical form outside of Ryou's body. That could be _very_ handy. Bakura made a mental note to chase Ryou into the New Age and spellcasting section of the next bookstore they came across. 

He wasn't even aware when Ryou and Amane and their father piled into a small car stuffed with duffel bags and started out toward Kyoto. Ryou seemed to sense he was in a brooding mood, and left him alone. 

So off they went, into a new life, with new trials awaiting them. They were blissfully unaware that they'd left someone very important behind, sleeping inside of a small boy at a summer camp... 

()()()()() 

WSJ: Next chapter will be longer and with more action, I swear! This was just a sort of introductory/filler chapter. Sorry for the crappy shortness! Forgive! Forgive! 

Hiei: *whacks her* 

WSJ: X_X Ugh... Anyway, reviews minna! 

Next time: Ryou writes a letter to Suuichi, Bakura reads spellbooks, and both of them have fun with plants! ^_^ 

God bless minna-san! 


	8. Ryou's Green Thumb

WSJ: Back again! More fun for the demon-fans! 

Hiei: *scowl* 

Ryou: *sigh* WSJ doesn't own YGO or YYH, for which we are all glad. 

WSJ: On to the chapter, minna! 

()()()()() 

Like a Thief in the Night 

Part Two: Growing Up Human 

Chapter 3 -- Ryou's Green Thumb 

Three weeks had passed, and everything had begun to settle to normal. Or as "normal" as it ever got, anyway. It was still the middle of the summer, so Ryou and Amane didn't have to go to school. Shen Bakura had started his work at the local museum, and the children were watched by one of their new neighbors while their dad was at work. 

Ryou and Bakura spent those weeks experimenting and getting to know one another better. Bakura soon discovered that he could 'take over' Ryou's body when he wanted to, and when he did he could either let Ryou see and hear what was going on or block him out completely. 

Ryou managed to find several books at the Kyoto Public Library that had to do with what Bakura called Spirit Energy, and Bakura would sit up at night when Ryou was asleep in his soulroom and read them. 

"Aha!!" Bakura crowed early one morning, jabbing his index finger at the page he was reading. "I knew I'd heard of that spell somewhere before!!" He read over the incantation several times to make sure he had it memorized, then closed his eyes and focused inward. Taking hold of his Spirit Energy, he put it into use as he cast the spell. He'd only need the incantation this once. After the initial set-up he could activate it just by a thought. 

He finished the spell and opened his eyes, and bit back a cry of triumph. Ryou's body was now tumbled back on the bed, asleep. Bakura himself was sitting cross-legged next to it in a transparent spiritual form. Bakura frowned a little when he noticed this, and leaned over to read the fine print on the Demonic Separation spell he'd just cast. "Hm. 'Demon may appear spiritualistic at first, only seen by psychics and his host. As time passes and bond with host grows, separated form will become more solid. Rare cases have reported complete mortality and solidity of separated form.' Huh. Interesting." 

Most ignorant humans would believe demon possession to be an act of evil, but it was not so. A good deal of demon-human possessions were formed only after mutual consent, and benefited both. Most of the time the demon and human became life-long partners, if not friends. It was only in rare cases that a human was possessed against his will and actually fought against the demon's hold. 

"Mmph?" Ryou sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Bakura? How come you're see-through?" 

Bakura grinned a little. "I found the spell I was looking for. Now I can exist outside of you, and we can start training." 

Ryou blinked, and instantly became much more alert. "Training?" 

"You want to be a ghost hunter, right? I can teach you ten times what any stupid book could." 

"Wow, really? I mean, you'd really train me to be a ghost hunter?" 

Bakura nodded and reached over to ruffle Ryou's hair. "But only after you've had a good night's sleep." 

Ryou nodded and obediently lay down after closing the book Bakura'd been reading and setting it on the bedside table. Still smiling fondly, Bakura let himself fade into his soulroom and flopped onto his bed. A moment later Ryou crept in and curled up beside him, as he had for the past three weeks. Bakura opened one eye to look down at him, then wrapped an arm around his host and pulled him close. It reminded him a little bit of when Kurama was younger, and the kitsune would curl up against him at night. In this manner, Ryou and Bakura soon fell asleep. 

_Dear Suuichi,   
I finally found someone to be my sensei! His name is Yami Bakura, but I don't think he's related to me at all, even though he looks like me. I asked him if he was related to me, but he only laughed and ruffled my hair. He does that a lot. He's really nice, even though he gets kinda sad sometimes. I think something really bad happened to him before he met me, but he won't tell me what. He just says he'll tell me when I'm older. I hate being so little! Anyway, Bakura's training me to be something he calls a Spirit Detective. He thought it was really funny to call me that. I asked him why, and he said there's someone else that trains Spirit Detectives, too, and that he and Bakura don't like each other. I dunno why, anyone who knows all the cool stuff Bakura does has to be all right. He's teaching me all sorts of neato things, like how to sense this magic he calls Spirit Energy, and how to meditate, and stuff. He's also teaching me martial arts. He says there's a way to use your Spirit Energy in martial arts attacks, but hasn't showed me how yet. And he hasn't taught me to sense demons and ghosts yet, either, which is what I really want to do. He gets really nervous when I ask and says I'm not strong enough yet. I wonder if demons had something to do with why he's so sad all the time. I hope you had fun at summer camp Suuichi, I miss you. Write back soon!   
Your cousin, Ryou Bakura_

Ryou put down his pen and smiled at the letter. He and Bakura had officially been in training for four days, and Ryou could tell already he was going to love it. Most of what they were doing so far was just sitting on the bed and meditating, and the martial arts lessons were taking place in the soulrooms, since they couldn't really do anything else with Amane and the baby-sitter downstairs. 

Rummaging around in his desk drawer for an envelope, Ryou caught a glimpse of the potted aloe vera plant sitting on his window sill. Ryou'd always loved plants, his room back in Domino had been something of a jungle before he'd had to start giving them away before the move. He hadn't had time to rebuild his collection yet, but daddy had given him this aloe plant to start out with. 

Getting up from his seat, Ryou moved toward the window and frowned. No matter how much he watered it or how carefully he cared for it, this little plant seemed determined to die. Ryou reached out a hand to touch one of the curled leaves, and then something strange happened. 

A silver-blue spark seemed to jump out of his finger, and the leaf uncurled a little, regaining some of its healthy green color. Ryou's jaw dropped, and he jerked his hand away. Fascinated, he moved his fingers closer, only to have the same thing happen again. Getting braver, Ryou ran one finger down the stem, and the plant suddenly sprang up over an inch, and spontaneously sprouted several new leaves. 

_/Bakura!!/_

Bakura, who'd been napping in his soulroom, jerked awake and immediately separated from his host. "What, what's wrong?!" 

"Look!" Ryou said excitedly, moving his hand along the plant and watching as it grew some more. "It likes me!" 

Bakura's jaw dropped. If Yami had seen such an expression on his face, the Hunter would have howled in laughter. "Holy Anubis, Ryou! You shouldn't be able to do that!" 

Ryou moved his hand away from the plant, his smile fading. "I shouldn't?" 

Bakura shook his head a little. "It's not a bad thing that you can, Ryou. But controlling plants is one of _my_ powers, and it's a really rare power, too. It must have transferred to you when I-" he stopped and paled. 

"When you what?" Ryou asked, blinking in confusion. 

"When I possessed you." Bakura finished, his transparent face white. "Shit." 

"When you _possessed_ me?!" Ryou squeaked, his eyes wide. 

Bakura nodded, obviously distracted. "Yeah. Sorry I didn't tell you, kid. I'm a demon, and you're kinda stuck with me." 

Had he been in a better frame of mind, Bakura might have been more amused when Ryou's face broke into a grin and he exclaimed "Coool!" 

"Maybe not." Bakura said, still pale. "I'm an okami, Ryou. A wolf demon. And tonight's a full moon." 

()()()()() 

WSJ: *cackles* 

Ryou: *blinkie* So I'm a Terra Mage and werewolf too? 

Bakura: Looks that way. 

WSJ: *grin* Reviews, minna! 

Next time: It's the first full moon of Bakura's conscious possession, and it looks like everything is destined to go wrong. Shen takes the family out for dinner, and even after Ryou manages to get away, it looks like he's being stalked by a demon. What can he and Bakura do? Find out next time! 

God bless minna-san! 


	9. Youko Ryou

WSJ: Whee hee hee!!! *huggles the Kurama and Hiei action figures and the Wish manga she got for her birthday* I have been inspired!! 

Hiei: *scowls and pokes the box the Hiei figure is in, since SJ has determined never to remove them* This looks nothing like me. 

WSJ: Eh, you're right, but who cares! ^_^ It's kawaii! 

Hiei: .... 

WSJ: Oooh, someone special shows up in this chapter, so read carefully! 

Bakura: *stares at the chapter* ....Why me? 

Ryou: WSJ does not own YGO or YYH, but she does own two figurines that I think she's planning on building a shrine around. *sweatdrop* 

_Notes:_ For this fic, an okami is a wolf demon who can shift forms any time he or she chooses, but _must_ transform into a wolf for at least eight hours on the night of the full moon. A werewolf is a human bitten, scratched, or possessed by an okami, who can _only_ change into a wolf during the full moon. A kitsune is a fox demon who can shift forms any time he chooses, but _must_ change for at least six hours a night on the nights of the full and sickle moons. Which means, basically, that werewolves and okamis have to change one night a month, but kitsune have to change three times a month. Bakura is an okami, Ryou is a werewolf, and Kurama is a kitsune. Got it? 

Oh, and as for someone else's question: no, Kurama is not awake yet. He's still "Suuichi". But Ryou's entire family knows about his ambition to be a ghost hunter, so the letter Ryou sent last chapter really wasn't so strange. 

WSJ: Onward to the ficcie! 

()()()()() 

Like a Thief in the Night 

Part Two: Growing Up Human 

Chapter 4 -- Youko Ryou 

"A full moon?" Ryou asked. "Why would that be any problem?" 

"I'm a _wolf demon_," Bakura stressed, beginning to pace back and forth across the small room. "I have to change into a wolf the night of the full moon. I doubt I could do it in the soulrooms without doing serious damage to our minds, so I'll have to separate. But if you have my Terra Mage powers, _you_ may have to transform tonight, too." Bakura saw that Ryou's eyes were huge, and tried not to be annoyed. "Oh come on Ryou, you're into the occult. Surely it can't be _that_ shocking that you're possessed." 

"I-I just wasn't expecting it." Ryou admitted. His voice was half-frightened, half-excited. "You mean I'm a werewolf? Like, fur, fangs, and a tail?" 

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you _want_ fur, fangs, and a tail." 

Ryou nodded enthusiastically. "Bakura, I'm in training to be a paranormalist! This is about as paranormal as it can get! This is awesome!" 

"Ryou..." Bakura's voice was quiet. "I wasn't going to tell you for a few more years, but I think you're ready to hear it now. I'm not your sensei just because I want to be. There's a very bad demon who's out to kill me and my brother, and I'm not always going to be around to protect you. He's been trying to kill me for the past five thousand years, and he's not likely to stop. It would be best if you knew how to defend yourself from him. That's the real reason I'm teaching you." The demon smirked. "Well, that and the fact that I want to see the look on Koenma's face when I show up with a Spirit Detective way stronger than any of the ones he's ever trained before." 

Ryou gaped at him. "Oh wow, five thousand years? Just how old are you? Who's Koenma?" 

Bakura sweatdropped. He'd just announced that a demon could come knocking on their door at any time, and leave it to Ryou to pick up on the question of age. "Koenma's the prince of the spirit world, Reikai. He's the other Spirit Detective trainer I was telling you about. He doesn't like me at all. As for how old I am, I stopped counting awhile ago. I think I'm somewhere around 5,782, give or take a few decades." 

"Wow..." 

A moment later there was a knock on the door and Bakura vanished, even though no one except Ryou or a psychic was supposed to be able to see him. Ryou went to the door and opened it to find Shen on the other side. Ryou sweatdropped a little, hoping his father hadn't heard him and Bakura talking. "Um, hi dad." 

Shen smiled at him. "Come on, we're going to go out to eat. I know I haven't had much time for you or Amane lately, since I'm settling into my new job, but tonight it'll just be the three of us, okay?" 

Ryou grinned, promptly forgetting about Bakura and wolf demons. His dad hadn't been home much lately, and Ryou was really beginning to miss him. "Sure dad! Can we mail my letter for Suuichi while we're out?" Shen nodded, and Ryou bounced back to his desk to grab the letter and then followed his father downstairs. 

In his soulroom, Bakura was rhythmatically banging his head against the wall. "----!" he cursed in Makaic, the language of the demons. "Why tonight?!" He glared up at the portrait of the Egyptian god Horus that was painted above the door to his soulroom. Its expression changed randomly, and tonight it seemed to be laughing at him. 

Bakura had first stumbled across the god Horus during his tomb raiding days in Egypt. The falcon-headed god was the patron of wind, the sun, and mortal men, pharaohs in particular. He was also called the Guardian of Guardians, patron god of protectors, champions, and underdogs. Yami had been pharaoh at the time, and Horus was Not Pleased that Yami'd killed off the true pharaoh. Horus had actually come to Bakura in a dream and asked him to overthrow the demon-pharaoh. Bakura was still working on that, but Horus didn't seem to mind that it was taking him a few millennia longer than he'd originally planned. Bakura paid homage to Horus on a regular basis, just as Kurama would make kills in honor of his patron kitsune goddess, Inari. Horus and the high god Allah were the only gods Bakura ever bothered with, since they were (in his opinion) the only ones that mattered. 

The painting didn't answer, and Bakura went back to banging his head on the wall and cursing his rotten luck. When he began to run out of expletives and actually began to repeat himself, he decided that was enough. Plopping down in the middle of the sandy floor, Bakura put his chin in his hands, steadily staring at a point on the far wall as he tried to think. He could hold off the transformation for a little while, but he had no idea how long. And if Ryou got out into direct moon light, they were both sunk. 

He was startled out of his thoughts as something twinged at his demon senses. Frowning, he partially melded his mind with Ryou's, just enough to look through the boy's eyes. He could feel Ryou's silent query, but at the moment he was too busy focusing his senses to answer. They were outside now, headed for Shen's car. It was still well before sundown, which meant they had three or four hours until moonrise. That should be plenty of time to eat and come back. 

Bakura frowned a little, straining his senses to the fullest. There was something out there.... It was far away though, and if it was demonic, it could only be a D class at the highest. It wasn't anything to worry about. 

Bakura sighed a little in relief, retreating fully back into his soulroom. That was just what he didn't need, a rogue demon on a night like this. Maybe he'd go hunt it down later though, for old times sake. Or just to show Ryou what a real demon looked like. 

The ride to the restaurant was relatively uneventful, with Amane chattering on about something or other. When they reached their destination, however, Bakura couldn't help but groan. It was a posh restaurant, one of those that took several hours to get through and only the very insane took children. Apparently Shen Bakura fell under the category of "very insane". 

Bakura promptly went back to banging his head against the nearest hard surface. 

Dinner was wonderful. Ryou and Amane were well behaved children, at least compared to some others of their age. Both of them had missed their daddy over the past few weeks, and were happy that his attention was focused in solely on them. 

Bakura, however, was not nearly so content. He could almost _feel_ the moon inching closer to the horizon. He was sitting cross-legged in his soulroom, his eyes squeezed tightly shut as he shunted every ounce of his will toward holding off his and Ryou's transformations. Bakura rather enjoyed his wolf form, and had never had occasion to try and forestall the transformation before, and so was doing a poor job of it now. 

Most of his attention was focused on trying to keep the transformation from Ryou, and it was beginning to show. In his soulroom, Bakura's hair was looking rather shaggy, and his teeth and fingernails were beginning to lengthen ever so slightly. 

Ryou could feel Bakura's strain, and had fallen silent some time ago, slightly anxious over what his other was going through. Ryou thought about speaking to him mentally, but was afraid of breaking Bakura's concentration. As dinner wore on, Ryou began to grow anxious as well. He could feel that Bakura was having a harder and harder time controlling the magic, and Ryou was starting to itch as fine white fur began to sprout in various places all over his body. At one point the boy went to scratch one of his arms and almost yelped when he realized how sharp his fingernails were getting. Ryou could only pray his father and sister didn't notice. 

Eventually, though, Shen noticed that his eldest was being unnaturally quiet. Ryou had always been the shier of the two, but normally he was talkative with Amane, at least. "Ryou, are you feeling okay? You've barely touched your dinner." 

Ryou jumped slightly, his head snapping up to look at his father. Shen blinked. It was probably just the lighting, but Ryou's eyes looked almost golden... "A-ah... I'm okay daddy, just not very hungry..." 

"You look pale," Shen said, concern written on his face. 

Ryou gulped slightly, looking down again and trying not to squirm. Blue jeans are incredibly uncomfortable when one is beginning to grow a tail. "I'm just... not hungry..." 

"Do you want to go home?" Shen asked. "Amane-chan and I are just about finished." 

Ryou nodded, letting a little bit of his relief show on his face. They could go home, and then Ryou and Bakura could transform, and everything would be all right. "Okay daddy..." 

Shen nodded and called for the waiter so he could pay the bill. Ryou looked down at his hands, trying to ignore the way Amane was staring at him. A few minutes later the trio left the restaurant, Ryou shuffling along with his hands stuffed into his pockets. Luckily, Shen just seemed to think he was coming down with something. 

Once they made it back to the house, Ryou almost ran for his room, closing and locking the door behind him. As soon as he gave Bakura the mental okay, the wolf demon separated from his host, tumbling to the floor at Ryou's feet as he gave up his control over the transformation. Moonlight was just beginning to slant in the window, and as Ryou hadn't had the chance to flip on the light yet, the change was instantaneous. 

Bakura rolled over and stretched, arching his back in an almost cat-like gesture as he blinked large brown eyes at Ryou, who was still standing by the door, half-human with wide eyes. A canine grin split Bakura's face, and he twitched his tail in invitation. Still looking nervous, Ryou stepped into the pool of moonlight. 

Immediately he dropped to his knees, his clothes shredding as his tail burst out behind him and his hands and feet morphed into oversized puppy paws. His face lengthened, his eyes turning a tawny golden colour that reminded Bakura vaguely of Kurama's. His hair melted into the fur on his back, and a moment later he was laying beside Bakura and panting, shreds of denim and cotton still clinging to him in various places. 

Bakura frowned slightly, reaching over to brush such scraps away with his nose. _//Huh. I guess your clothes aren't melded into part of the transformation like mine.//_ he noted, idly realizing that the link still worked no matter what shape they were in. 

Ryou cocked his head, lashing his tail in what passed for a wolf's laugh. _/Must remember that in the future./_ In this form, Bakura was almost twice as big as Ryou. In fact, although Ryou had large paws and ears in an almost puppy-ish physique, he was the normal size of a full grown wolf. Bakura was absolutely _huge_ when compared to natural wolves. 

There was a gentle knock on the door. "Ryou? Are you feeling all right?" 

The two wolves looked at each other in mild panic. Ryou had locked the door, but if Shen had a key... 

After a moment of furious thinking, Bakura screwed up his face and emitted a half-growling, half-hissing sound that sounded remarkably like a human snore. Ryou just stared at him, and there was a long moment of silence on the other side of the door before they could hear Shen's footsteps retreating down the hallway. 

Ryou gave a quiet sigh of relief, and Bakura grinned as only wolves can. _//Let's get out of here before he decides to come in and feed you chicken soup or something.//_ Standing up, Bakura padded over to the window and reared up on his back paws, letting his front ones rest against the window sill. A moment of quick working with a single claw, and the latch popped open. Still grinning, the thief slid his claw under the window and pushed it upward, letting the cool summer night air inside. Then he hopped down and stepped away from the window. _//You go first, Ryou.//_

Ryou's eyes widened. _/Are you nuts?! This is the second floor!/_

_//We're wolves. A tiny jump like that isn't going to hurt us any, so get going!//_

Ryou gulped a little, then put his paws on the window sill and stuck his nose out. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was looking through wolf eyes, but it really didn't look that far down. Clumsily Ryou managed to hop up onto the window sill, somehow balancing all four paws on the narrow ledge. He shut his eyes, then opened them again, and after one more deep breath he jumped. 

He landed easily on the grass and immediately sat down, canine eyes wide. A moment later Bakura landed next to him and sat, waiting for Ryou to collect his wits. 

Ryou's bedroom window looked out over the side yard, and the two wolves were sitting hidden in the shadows of a large magnolia tree that grew there. Only the guest room and the kitchen windows faced the same way, so neither Shen or Amane could have seen them. 

After a minute or two Ryou shook himself and cocked his head at Bakura. _/What now?/_

Bakura gave a low, wolfish chuckle. _//Whatever you like. We should move away from the house, though. Possibly out of the city. The last thing we need is someone reporting a couple white wolves to animal control.//_

Ryou squeaked a little as he imagined himself and Bakura turning back into humans in the middle of an animal shelter. _/No kidding.../_

Bakura gave the wolf equivalent of a grin. _//Then let's go.//_

And so the two started off. Slinking around to the front of the house, the two wolves loped across the front yard. Liquid moonlight splashed across quicksilver fur, reflecting in the eyes of a little lavendar-haired girl just barely tall enough to look out her bedroom window. Neither Ryou nor Bakura noticed the small face in the window, and a moment later the wolves had disappeared down the road, leaving one little girl wondering if she was dreaming. 

Creeping between shadowed alleys and eventually taking to the rooftops, Ryou and Bakura made good time. It was an hour or two later that they finally came to a stop in a deserted park on the edge of Kyoto. Ryou flopped down on the grass under a large tree, panting. Bakura sat down nearby, his tail curling around his legs in an almost feline gesture. _//You okay Ryou?//_

_/Yeah,/_ Even Ryou's mental voice sounded winded. _/I'm just not used to running so long./_

Bakura frowned slightly, turning his head to look at his young charge. _//I'm sorry, I forgot you're not Kurama. He and I used to keep running for hours, sometimes. We'll take it easy on the way home.//_

_/Kurama?/_ Ryou asked, his ears pricked slightly in interest. 

_//My brother.//_ Bakura answered shortly. 

_/Oh. Where is he?/_

Bakura laid his ears back flat against his skull, half in annoyance and half in sadness. _//...I don't know. We got separated when we came to this world from Makai, the demon world, some eight years ago.//_

_/Oh./_ Wisely, Ryou let the subject drop and rolled over onto his back in the grass, looking up through the leaves at the sky. His eyes widened in surprise when he noticed a pair of faintly glowing eyes peering back at him, and they weren't owl eyes. _/Bak-/_

The eyes moved, and the figure they belonged to dropped from the tree and was at Ryou's side with amazing speed. In an instant he had drawn a katana, and Ryou found himself helpless, the point of the sword at his throat. "Move and you die, wolf," the figure hissed. Ryou whimpered quietly, and Bakura whirled around, taking in the scene in an instant. 

The figure standing over Ryou was undoubtedly male, and undoubtedly a demon. He had spiked black hair, and was dressed in all black as well. He was very short, and when he turned slightly to look over his shoulder at Bakura, the okami could see he had red eyes and was wearing a white headband across his forehead. With a start Bakura realized this was the same demon he'd been sensing earlier, and he nearly laughed. 

"Leave the boy alone," Bakura said aloud, his speech slightly slurred since he hadn't need to speak out loud in wolf form for a long time. "What do you want that you'd risk _my_ ire to get it?" 

_/Bakura, what're you-/ _

//Not now, Ryou.// 

The short demon scowled at him. "_Your_ ire? You seem very sure of yourself for an okami." 

Bakura resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was being threatened by a mere D-class fire demon who apparently didn't have a brain. There had been a time not so long ago when the sight of a white wolf, _any_ white wolf, would send demons of all classes diving for cover. Bakura knew he'd supposedly been dead for nearly a decade, but _still..._

Closing his eyes in concentration, Bakura surpressed the pull of the moonlight and began to shift forms. After a moment he was kneeling on the ground in humanoid form, nearly eye-to-eye with the surprised demon. "Boo." 

The demon nearly dropped his sword in shock, but Bakura reached out and grabbed his wrist, twisting the sword away from Ryou's neck. As soon as he was in the clear, Ryou rolled to his feet and scurried to crouch behind Bakura, his ears back and tail between his legs. 

The fire demon's eyes widened slightly, then narrowed, as if he suspected a trick. "You're supposed to be dead." 

"Surprise," Bakura said dryly, twisting the other demon's arm and making him hiss in pain. "Now what do you want, you pitiful excuse for a demon?" 

The demon hissed again, but his expression was more of anger and rebellion than fear. "I was just watching you, seeing where you were going." 

Bakura smirked. "You had a sword to my host's neck. That's more than just watching." 

The demon blinked at him, clearly off-balance by that last comment. "Host? _You_, the great Yami Bakura, has a _host_?" 

"Quiet!" Bakura snarled, twisting his arm harder, until the demon yelped in pain and there was the unmistakable _'pop'_ of a joint jerked out of place. 

To Bakura's surprise, Ryou jumped out from behind him and nosed at his arm, whimpering slightly. _/Bakura, don't hurt him! I just surprised him. He didn't mean to, I'm sure./_

Bakura blinked, surprised by his light's charity toward a demon. Scowling a little, the okami let go of the short one, who dropped to the ground, holding his dislocated shoulder. Ears pinned back in a submissive gesture, Ryou poked his nose at the stunned demon. _/Are you all right?/_

Bakura scowled and crossed his arms, sitting back on his heels. "He wants to know if you're all right." 

The fire demon blinked at him, then at Ryou. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing. Why did you stop him? He's at least three times stronger than I am. If we'd met back in Makai he would have snapped me in half without a second thought." 

Bakura raised an eyebrow in Ryou's direction. _//He has a good point.//_

_/I just don't like seeing people get hurt./_ Ryou admitted, looking down as if it were something to be ashamed of. _/I'm sure he didn't mean to scare me./_

Again, Bakura had to resist the urge to roll his eyes as he relayed this. His host really knew _nothing_ about demons. 

Apparently, their guest thought so too. "Is he stupid?" he asked Bakura in Makaic, the demon language. Up until this point they'd all been speaking Japanese, which was just barely different enough from Makaic that Ryou probably couldn't understand the demonic language. 

"He's only eight." Bakura answered with a sigh. "I'm working on it." In Japanese he added, "What's your name?" 

The demon blinked again, then scowled slightly. "Hiei." 

"Well, Hiei, what are you doing in Ningenkai?" Bakura asked, crossing his arms. "You are aware that if you're one of Koenma's agents I'll have to kill you?" 

Hiei snorted. "Like I'd ever serve that toddler. I'm here strictly for personal gain. Ningenkai art is fetching a high price in Reikai right now." 

Bakura smirked. "Ahhh, a thief like myself. I think I may like you." 

"Hn. Like I need your approval." 

"Good point. Get you gone, demon. My host has to be home by sunrise." 

"Hn." Hiei picked up his sword with his good arm and slid it into its sheath. He turned to go, then paused. "Is Youko Kurama..." 

"I don't know." 

"...Oh. Should I tell-" 

"No," Bakura answered firmly. "Let everyone think I'm dead. If I ever do decide to make a come back, I'll announce it myself." Both of them had noted the word 'if', and cast significant looks toward Ryou, who remained clueless. 

"...Right." Hiei nodded to Bakura, bowed slightly to Ryou, and then lept away into the treetops. 

Once Bakura was sure he was gone, he let himself shift back into wolf form, letting out a sigh and flopping down on the grass next to Ryou. That could have gone very, very badly, but miraculously it hadn't. Now Ryou would probably be spouting awkward questions, but he could deal with that. 

For now, he was just content to curl up next to his host and sleep, content he would be safe. 

()()()()() 

WSJ: *grin* Yay! So how many of you guessed that Hiei would show up this chapter? Be honest! 

Hiei: *eye twitch* ...You made me _nice_. 

WSJ: Only slightly!! Yeesh! ^^; You'll be your regular grumpy self soon enough. 

Hiei: Hn. 

Ryou: *giggle* I think it's cute! 

Hiei: ...*twitch* 

God bless minna-san! 


End file.
